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(Big Rock Creek). "Where with the spring comes nature's 
loveliest dress." (Photo by Lincoln, /'/<</i<>, III.) 



Lost Maramech and 
Earliest Chicago 

A HISTORY OF THE FOXES AND OF 

THEIR DOWNFALL NEAR THE 

GREAT VILLAGE OF 

MARAMECH 

Original Investigations and Discoveries 



JOHN F. 



STEWARD 



ASSISTANT GEOLOGIST OP THE COLORADO RIVER EXPLORING EXPEDI- 
TION, I87I; PRESIDENT OP THE MARAMECH HISTORICAL SOCIETY 
OF KENDALL CO., ILL.; MEMBER OF THE ILLINOIS 
HISTORICAL SOCIETY ; MEMBER OF THE 
CHICAGO ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 




Chicago New York Toronto 

Fleming H. Revell Company 

London & Edinburgh 
MCMIII 



Copyright, 1903, by 

FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY 

(June) 



THE LIBRARY OF 
CONGRESS. 

Two Copies Receive; 1 

AUG 21 1903 ; 

Copyist Entry P^_ O 

ClaS*' A. XXc. N« j 
CCPV 3. 



n<=>* 



Chicago: 63 Washington Street 
N< w York: 158 Fifth Avenue 
Toronto: 27 Richmond Street, W 
London! 21 Paternoster Square 
Jvlinljurgli: 30 St. Mary Street 



PREFACE 

This book is directed, in the main, to putting 
together the history of a people which reaches us 
in fragments only. Some of the fragments were 
dug from the military archives of France several 
years ago, but the most important ones, those con- 
nected with what may practically be considered the 
destruction of one of the fiercest people of America, 
or, at least, taming it by a merciless war, were 
recently found by Prof. Charles M. Andrist, whom 
I engaged to make searches in the Bibliothtque 
Nationale and the Archives of the Minister of the 
Marine, in Paris. 

Of the measures planned at Versailles for the 
destruction of the Fox tribe, the carrying out of 
none was more fatal than that of 1730, although it 
is probable that a smaller number of the fated tribe 
bit the dust than a few years earlier at Butte des 
Morts, on the Fox river of Wisconsin. Where the 
affair of 1730 took place had been lost up to my 
discovery of an ancient earthwork near Piano, Illi- 
nois, that had undoubtedly been palisaded; since 
then I have devoted much time in attempts that, 
fortunately, have proved successful, to determine 
what actually took place, and its date. 

The descriptions of the lay of the land, found in 
old records, apply to the site of ancient Maramech 
so exactly that I have felt warranted in placing a 
stone on the hill that shall connect the story with 

5 



6 PREFACE 

the place and mark the site of the old fort until the 
granite crumbles. 

The diversity in spelling the names of places has 
been great and, in putting the fragments in the 
form of a story, necessarily broken, I have not fol- 
lowed the orthography of the various writers except 
where it would be improper to do otherwise. 
Where I have taken fragments that may be found in 
many places, as in the Wisco?isi?i Historical Collection, 
New York Colonial Documents, Smith's History of Wis- 
consin, etc., I have not always taken care to give 
credit; in other words, where the subject-matter is 
everywhere accessible to the public, and is a mere 
copy of some document, I have not taken the trouble 
to mention the channels through which it came to 
hand. The best English is not found in some of 
the translations I have copied, but it has been 
thought advisable to make no change. 

This book has been prepared not to profit the 
author, but for profit to those who are or may 
become interested in early western history. Few 
modern authors are quoted, as I have preferred to 
go to the original sources of information In order 
to become able to do so, I have examined a multi- 
tude of old maps and have explored the Quays of 
Paris, the Antiquarian book stores of the largest 
English and Scotch cities, as well as those of the 
United States, with the result that original editions 
of most of the early French writings are before me. 
My main dependence has been upon histories and 
accounts published before the year 1750; the prin- 
cipal authors quoted being La Salle, Tonti, Henne- 
pin, the Jesuits {Jesuit Relations), La Hontan, La 



PREFACE 7 

Potherie, Perrot, Charlevoix, Margry's Collections, 
and the collection known as the New York Colonial 
Documetits. The last two are compilations merely 
of original English and French documents bearing 
upon the early travels and explorations in America. 
From the many thousand pages constituting these 
collections of documents, and from the authors above 
mentioned, I have been able, during the last quarter 
of a century, to gather scraps of history that, when 
put in order, tell the story of Maramech as well as 
of the defeat and destruction of the Fox tribe. Not 
to books alone must I give credit, however, but also 
to my spade, my only servant in my years of labor. 
I have not dared to attempt to avail myself of the 
aid of a romantic pen, to smoothly join the gath- 
ered fragments, and this must be my apology for 
the broken narrative. 

The Author. 



Illustrations 

page y 
"Le long d'une petite riviere" (Big Rock Creek). .Frontispiece 

Scalps taken were proofs of bravery 1 1 

Site of the Great Village of Maramech and of the destruc- 
tion of the larger part of the Fox Tribe in 1730 21 

Maramech Hill, from the South 29 

Specimens of the Ceramic Art, from the Site of Maramech 35 
Maramech Hill showing the "gentle slope" mentioned in 

the military reports 36 

One of the Twin Rocks 38 ^ 

The Kishwaukee Trail 43 

Work of the Potters of Maramech 48 

Relics of the Miller and His Mill 54 

Pu-ci-ti-nig-wa, His Counsellors and the Interpreter, Fox 

Reservation 80 

Fair Specimens, Tama Reservation 95 

Hundreds of Arrow Heads Turned up by the Plow 121 

The Cemetery, Tama Reservation 121 • 

The Dancers, Tama Reservation 143 

The Dog Sacrifice, Tama Reservation 143 / 

Joseph Tisson, the Interpreter, and Child, Tama Reserva- 
tion 161 

Fair Ones of the Tama Reservation 231 

Harvesting Wild Rice 231 

The Present and Future 269 

Lettering the Massive Boulder 281 - 

Frame of Fox Wigwam, Tama Reservation 291 •" 

Fox Wigwam, Tama Reservation 291 

Site of De Villiers' "Cavalier" (Little Fort) 295 " 

"Now the hill's gentle slope is shocked only by the battles 

of the elements' ' 309 

The Chief's Wigwam, Tama Reservation 343 , 

Inscription on Boulder (translated into Fox language and 

shown in Fox script) , 344 

Shaubena, a Pottawatomie Chief 354 



CHAPTER I 

We are told that the natives of the New World 
were savages; as reported by intruders into their 
country, they appear so to have been. To those 
who intruded, no doubt, the natives seemed tame- 
less; if tameless meant inability to turn to our 
domestic ways, more savage in many respects than 
their own, they were indeed tameless. If it was 
thought by the invaders that to defend homes and 
kindred, to drive intruders from the hunting- 
grounds that constituted their fields of sustenance, 
rendered them worthy of the name, they were sav- 
ages. Nevertheless I have experienced every 
degree of kindness at the hands of a few of these 
tameless people, whom I know to be savages, accord- 
ing to our acceptation of the term, which, by the 
way, is only comparative. The Indian mother is 
not alone a savage because sometimes moved to the 
fierceness of a tigress, for her pale-face sister, in 
defending her child, with tooth and nail will tear 
the flesh of him who would take from her her off- 
spring. 

Where sets the sun a few remain — savages still. 
I have been with them in their homes, have shared 
with them, and, in turn, have accepted their hos- 
pitality. One incident, in the far west, in the 

9 



io LOST MARAMECH 

rugged canon of the Colorado river, I shall not for- 
get. Memory still vividly pictures a rude shelter of 
willows, cut by my comrades and leaned together — 
willow branches upon the sand of the shore in the 
canons of the Colorado river, my bed. A shout 
from the cliff announced the nearness of a friend. 
Signalled to approach, a stalwart Navajo descended. 
Drawing near he heard the moans of an afflicted 
man, and his sympathies were aroused. His tongue 
was untrained to our language, but a few gestures 
and words of Spanish sufficed to make me under- 
stand that, if I thought myself able to ride, he 
would take me on one of his ponies to the Mormon 
settlement. Although a savage, he was willing to 
turn back on his trail and take me where I could be 
better cared for. 

Asking no reward, he offered to travel thither and 
back, two hundred miles, in my behalf. Agua 
Grande! How noble he looks to me, through the 
years! In form and every feature he seemed like 
one of nature's noblest. His sympathy cheered me 
as he bent over, and shone in his storm-beaten face 
as tenderly as in the face of woman. 

Savage we say the natives were, because they 
inflicted pain without a thought of mercy — so the 
foreign intruders thought. They were, in fact, indif- 
ferent to the agonies of their enemies taken in war, 
when burning them at the stake; so were the bigots 
of the religious denominations in the Old World, 
when, with fire and rack, they were torturing those 
who disputed their dogmas. The natives burned a 
captive in order to terrify his tribe, their enemy. 
In so doing they seemed heartless; but were not the 




Scalps taken were proofs of bravery. 
(From Schootcraft.) 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO n 

British magistrates heartless when burning witches? 
The natives were considered not to have passed the 
state of barbarism because they were superstitious; 
that is, the natives were charged with being super- 
stitious by those who themselves believed in witch- 
craft, and thought that they were doing God a 
service by beginning, here on earth, the torments of 
the hell they so fervently believed in. These bigots 
were not willing to leave those they condemned 
wholly to God, and their punishment to Him at the 
day of judgment. As compared with our ancestors, 
the natives were indeed unrefined, particularly in 
methods of inflicting torture. They even tore off 
the finger nails of captives with their teeth, and did 
many cruel things in as crude a way. How much 
more scientifically the operations might have been 
performed! Pincers of steel would also have been 
more convenient, had they been furnished by their 
newly-arrived brothers, who so long had used them 
in Europe to lacerate the hands of heretics, in 
efforts to convince them of their error in matters of 
belief. The children of the forest were taught that, 
to be a warrior, to be brave, when captured or tor- 
tured, was the height to which ambition should 
aspire, and that to take the scalp of an enemy was 
the greatest of achievements. He killed for glory. 
The nearest approach to a law was "an eye for an 
eye, and a tooth for a tooth"; so he slew the mur- 
derer of a relative or of a friend. They killed in 
revenge, but seldom to rob. They rarely slaugh- 
tered animals for sport merely. They kept no 
"game preserves" in which to gratify their savage 
instincts, as do many of the wealthy up to this, the 



12 LOST MARAMECH 

third year of the twentieth century. They killed 
the innocent birds for feathers with which to deck 
their heads and pipes of peace, but did that neces- 
sarily show them to be barbarous? While I write a 
Christian lady passes my window, her head adorned 
with a hat on which the wing, the head, and tail 
feathers of a large, dark-hued bird are stitched. 
She is dressed in mourning; the life of an innocent 
bird was taken to add an emphasizing mark to her 
grief. 

Let us cease to cast stones until we are ourselves 
without sin. Those who have sought acquaintance 
with the red man at the point of the sword have not 
learned his better nature. The highway robber does 
not win our love; trespassers on one's rights do not 
inspire kind words and smiles. We must not judge 
of the Indian, as pictured by the whites, for they 
tell us of him only as he was after his contamina- 
tion by them. My story is one of wrongs; it is one 
of woes; it is of wars of extermination, with all that 
they imply. Could I dip my pen in the blood of 
the innocent, I might make my story impressive, 
were it not that our language is, alas, so weak. If 
to torture marks the savage, then what of the early 
settlers of Illinois, who, after taking possession of 
Kaskaskia, committed the following act? 

"Illinois, to wit: To Richard Winston, Esq., 
Sheriff-in-chief of the District of Kaskaskia: 

"Negro Manuel, a Slave in your custody, is con- 
demned by the Court of Kaskaskia, after having 
made honorable Fine at the Door of the Church, to 
be chained to a post at the Water-Side and there 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 



13 



to be burnt alive and his ashes scattered, as appears 
to me by the Record. This sentence you are hereby 
required to put in execution on Tuesday next at 9 
o'clock in the morning, and this shall be your war- 
rant. Given under my hand and seal at Kaskaskia, 
the 13th day of June, in the third year of the Com- 
monwealth." 

We have a better nature that sometimes sways us. 
So had they, but as we know them now they seem 
to have reached the lowest degradation. By nature 
they were honest, but we taught them to be thieves; 
were truthful, but learned to lie from the white man. 
They were not avaricious, and hence not selfish. 
They were so hospitable that even an enemy was 
safe among them while partaking of their hospi- 
tality. Before I begin my story let us become 
acquainted with them as they were when found. 

Peter Martyr, Columbus, and others who were 
first to meet the red man, spoke in praise. La 
Fiteau said: 

"The savages have good intellects, lively imagina- 
tions, ready conception, admirable memory. All 
have at least some traces of an ancient and hereditary 
religion and a form of government; they reason 
logically upon their affairs; they reach their end 
by sure means; they are deliberative, and with a 
composure which exceeds our patience; by reason 
of honor, and by grandeur of soul, they never anger, 
appear always masters of themselves; they never 
show passions; they are high-minded and proud, 
and put to the proof, show great courage, intrepid 
valor, a constancy in the torments which is heroic, 



i 4 LOST MARAMECH 

and an equanimity that misfortune and reverses can- 
not alter. Among themselves they have a degree 
of politeness of manner which guards them from 
unkindness, a respect for the aged, a deference for 
their equals which is really surprising and that one 
scarcely reconciles with the independence and the 
freedom of which they appear extremely jealous; 
they caress but little, and make few demonstrations; 
but notwithstanding that, they are good and affable 
and exercise toward the stranger and the unfortunate 
a hospitality which might well put all of the nations 
of Europe to blush." 

Volumes might be quoted to show the better side 
of their natures. I am pardonable for not telling of 
their vices, for every schoolboy has heard and seen 
the savage pictured since infancy, and blood-cur- 
dling stories have fed his imagination to satiety. 
We prate of our virtues; does it not seem strange 
that we imparted only our vices to them? The 
red race is passing away, as by a pestilence, and 
that by the too ready adoption of the habits and evil 
ways of the white man. Have we adopted one of 
the many virtues these people were credited with 
possessing when our fathers came among them? 
What one of our vices did we not impart to them? 
Drink was unknown, but we made them drunkards; 
and that, too, in order to cheat them more easily. 
We accepted their one bad habit, only to magnify it 
and make it more disgusting How well fitted is the 
white father to kiss the lips of the loved ones, his 
own lips stained with the foul-smelling weed, and to 
caress his babes, his clothing saturated with an 
odor that stings the olfactory nerves. 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 15 

Fast-fading, degenerate race! Well may we bow 
our heads in shame before you! Pity you? Alas! 
It is too late; but remorse should yet consume us. 
Too late? No, it is too early; it is too early in the 
development of the human race for the proper exer- 
cise of pity. How can the heart of one who burns 
a human being at the stake melt with pity? How 
can the hearts of those who mob a mere suspect be 
wrung in tears? This^very night, this very minute, 
unless this night is an exception, in this busy Chris- 
tian city, its streets brilliant with electric lights, its 
spires reaching far heavenward, and their bells call- 
ing to evening prayers, a laborer returning to his 
home with his week's earnings is "held up." 
Purses are snatched from women's hands. To-mor- 
row morning the police court will be crowded. The 
shelves of the libraries of the civilized world groan 
under their loads of books of law, yet in all the 
so-called enlightened countries enough policemen, 
and other officers, cannot be maintained to enforce 
the laws. We lie, we cheat, we murder, and violate 
every moral law, as we did two .hundred years ago; 
and yet, as we did two hundred years ago, we send 
missionaries among those who live more moral lives 
than we. Three hundred years ago few laws were 
known to the people of America, unless perhaps in 
Mexico and Peru. The people were without enacted 
laws, but were not lawless. They had governments; 
but those governments were founded on the moral law. 

Is there another side to their nature? As certain 
as it is that we, who are said to have been created in 
the image of God, have a brutish side to our natures. 
Peter Martyr said: 



16 LOST MARAMECH 

"It is certain that the land among these people is 
as common as the sun and water, and that mine and 
thine, the seed of all misery, have no place with 
them. They are content with so little that, in such 
a large country, they have rather a superfluity than 
a scarceness, so that they live in the golden world 
without toil, living in the open gardens not in- 
trenched, divided with hedges, or defended with 
walls. They deal truly, one with another, without 
laws, without books, without judges. They take 
him for an evil and mischievous man who taketh 
pleasure in doing hurt to another; and albeit they 
delight not in superfluities, yet they make provisions 
for the increase of such roots whereof they make 
bread, content with such simple diet, whereof health 
is preserved and disease is avoided." 

Yes, there is another side to their nature. They 
were bloodthirsty, as we understand the term. The 
Foxes, whose history I have gathered, possessed all 
the good as well as all the savage traits. If that 
fact warranted the wholesale murder of the natives, 
by the intruding settlers, then what shall we do with 
the three thousand men of enlightened Kansas, who, 
suspecting a negro of murder, of which he declared 
himself innocent, refused to allow the law to take 
its course, took him from the sheriff's posse by 
force, threw coal oil over him and set fire to it? I 
curse these men as brutal. Compared with their 
act, all the tortures and murders charged to our 
natives were as acts of kindness. 

History told in cold type may be likened to the 
mossy marble that casts its shadow across a grass- 
grown battlefield. Pen-pictures may embellish the 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 17 

tale, but the struggle, the terrors, the death-throes, 
the tortures of flame and sword, no stone, however 
wrought, no print, even in colors of blood, can tell. 
Greater though the pen, palsies the hand that would 
move it, and languishes the brain before the task of 
telling, in its fullness, what the sword hath wrought, 
A nation, the strong hand of fate clutching its 
throat, its warriors struggling as only the brave can, 
struggling for its existence, struggling for the loved 
ones, fire at its front, famine in its ranks and in its 
homeless families — what pen can tell its story? As 
with the lash of pestilence, we drove the natives to 
their doom, from the land of their birth, the home 
dear to them. 

Come to our western prairies when the sun has 
ripened the year to its fullness, and to the streams 
along which fruits hang ready for the lips. Though 
the shade-loving bluebells have dropped their 
petals, the goldenrod has sought the sun, and in the 
morning the cheery notes of the birds are music. 
The mating time is far past, and the broods are 
found in every covert. When come the shades of 
eve, the night-hawk swoops down from his high 
flight with open throat and tells bob-white and 
whip-poor-will their time of call has come. Stay 
with me. Do not tire. There are other groves and 
streams, and other hearts than mine there cling; but 
it was here I first saw light. 'Twas here that my 
heartstrings were tuned to Nature's chime. My 
cradle rocked beneath the boughs where robins sang. 
In June the locust blossoms showered upon the low 
shake-roof over my natal bed, and every new year 
bade me welcome. So, like the natives, a child of 



iS LOST MARAMECH 

Nature, I love the prairies, their groves and 
streams. 

Did not the dusky children of the wilds, nurtured 
as close to Nature's bosom as I, love the brookside 
shades and the fruits, sun-kissed to ripeness for 
them? Were our love-sighs the first to be echoed 
by the dove's low call, and was the plush of the soft 
banks made only for the white maid and lover? The 
heart of the young roots deeply into the soil that 
nourishes it, and there it ever clings. Did not the 
many generations that came and went cling to the 
homes into which they were cradled? Is it that zve 
only, driven by Fate that severs family ties and 
turns homes to ashes, feel a sting? May not those 
wedded to this western sod have shrieked when 
hearts were torn to shreds? 

My story of a nearly vanished tribe is also one of 
devastation, pursuit, and destruction. I find the 
tale only in tatters, a bit here and there, in musty 
volumes; follow me and you shall soon know their 
full meaning. 

They tell us of a battle fought, but say not where; 
they tell us of famine somewhere in this great fertile 
valley of the middle west, the garden spot of the 
world, where hunger now seems impossible; but his- 
torians have not hitherto found the place. 

Of the defeat the victor wrote: "Voifd tme nation 
humilUe de /aeon qu'elle ne troublera phis de terre." — 
Ferland II., 439. (Behold a nation humiliated to 
such an extent that it will no more trouble the 
earth.) Let us consider, a moment, the people of 
whom I am writing. The environments of their 
birthplaces were such as so-called civilization knows 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 19 

nothing [of; their schooling was that of the chase 
and war; their inherent ambitions were only those 
urging to greatness as warriors. How can we, of 
this generation, judge them fairly? Let us not be 
deceived by the terms applied to these natives. 
The beasts the explorers found along the St. Law- 
rence river were wild, and the French called them 
sanvage. The people they found living a life of wild 
freedom they also called sanvage, although many 
were so mild in manners as to put the French to 
shame. We have given the French word sauvage, 
that merely means wild, a most savage interpreta- 
tion. 

The European missionaries were not in position 
to call these people savage, indiscriminately, in the 
present sense of the term. 




Site of the "Great Village of Mara- 

mech" and of the destruction 

of the larger part of the 

Fox tribe in 1730. 

Modeled in clay. 



CHAPTER II 

Call it idle curiosity that incites us unwrap the 
winding-sheet of the mummy, if you will; say, if you 
please, that it was curiosity merely that prompted 
me to dig into musty archives for information, writ- 
ten in a foreign language, with its incongruities of 
two hundred years ago. Be that as it may, it is 
hoped that some will scan these pages with the 
pleasure that the lover of history experiences. 

Where lettered man has lived and loved, has 
fought and died; where romance and strife have 
been made indelible — there is history. Where let- 
ters are not known, tradition alone serves to per- 
petuate the current of events of a people — but, alas, 
in a manner so broken! 

On the broad prairies of northern Illinois and 
southern Wisconsin long lived a people of whom 
my story shall tell, and of whom we long have lived 
in almost total ignorance. Fortunately for the 
lovers of historical pursuits many records, scattered 
though they now are, were made by the early 
explorers of our country and have been preserved. 
In the archives of France, from which most of my 
materials have been dug, more may hereafter be 
found; and it is hoped that, with the aid of appro- 
priations by the government, all scraps of early his- 
tory bearing upon our region will be collected. 
Along the hills and groves of northern Illinois lies 
the main scene of my story. The echoes of tradi- 



22 LOST MARAMECH 

tion have died away until only a mere murmur 
remains; no recent writer before me has seemed to 
know what there took place nor when. 

The most interesting and tragic event in the 
Indian history of Illinois has thus remained to the 
present time in the obscurity of scattered annals. 
These I have gathered, and the story is, for the first 
time, made to some extent complete. 

The discovery of a few potsherds and heaps of earth, 
along the beautiful Fox river (Riviere du Rocher 
of the early French), in Kendall county, Illinois, near 
the present busy little city of Piano, spurred me into 
investigations that have extended over a quarter of 
a century; and my researches in the archives of 
France, with those of others, have led to the discov- 
ery of early historical facts of great interest. 

What and where was Maramech? What tribe of 
natives was it that lived by the chase on the five 
prairies that neighbor near the mouth of Big Rock 
creek, and planted its corn in the rich valley? Who 
was it that gathered the fruits and nuts in the forest 
that borders this beautiful creek and the river that, 
in turn, carries the creek's cool contribution to the 
Father of Waters? Who lived here in the freedom 
we so much enjoy when we throw off the harness of 
restraint and seek the shades of the great trees at 
Sylvan Spring and pitch our tents for a season of 
absolute rest? Follow my story, and you shall 
learn. 

Early French maps show that no place in the 
west was then better known than the northern part 
of Illinois. When visited by Nicholas Perrot and 
the French traders, so rich was it in game that it 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 



23 



formed the hunting-ground of many Algonquin 
tribes; indeed, it supplied the needs of the aborig- 




ines to such an extent that battles were fought for 
its possession. The Iroquois of the east, sworn ene- 



24 LOST MARAMECH 

mies of all the Algonquin tribes, sought to rob them 
of their homes, but succeeded in part only, leaving 
the deed to be finished by so-called civilized man, 
who later lusted after the bounties Nature had here 
showered down. 

Of La Salle's first explorations we know but little, 
for they were carried on in a manner so quiet that 
only the governor of New France was aware of his 
whereabouts much of the time during the years pre- 
ceding the grant, to him, along the St. Lawrence 
and later in the country of the Illinois. He was a 
"Coureur du dots" of the most energetic type; he 
knew too well the value of the Mississippi valley to 
France to make known to the world his belief, or 
the evidences thereof, that it could be better reached 
from the Gulf of Mexico than by way of the St. 
Lawrence, with its many rapids and with that great 
barrier the falls of Niagara. Of all this he dared 
not speak, except in a whisper, to the governor. 
This knowledge, and the immeasurable confidence 
on the part of the governor, resulted in the permits 
that enabled La Salle to complete his discoveries. 

The silence of the great explorer was the cause of 
the break in the story of his life which enabled the 
Jesuits (who wished to appropriate all the honors, 
and the commercial opportunities as well), to claim 
that Frontenac and the Abbe de Galinee had drawn 
upon their imaginations in making the records they 
left regarding La Salle's explorations, in 1669, on 
the Ohio and other western rivers. (Margry I., 112.) 

He again visited the region in 1680, descended 
the Illinois river and reached the mouth of the Mis- 
sissippi. He returned and spent part of the year 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 



25 



1683 and established the Colonie du Str. De La Salle, 
within what is now La Salle, Will, Kendall, and 
Cook counties, Illinois, and left his faithful lieu- 
tenant, Henri de Tonty, in charge of the fort estab- 
lished by him on what is now known as Starved 
Rock, in La Salle county. He then passed on to 
Canada and there gave to Franquelin, the Official 
Cartographer of Canada, the information necessary 
to enable him to draw his map of 1684. On the lat- 
ter the Illinois river, the Des Plaines, Kankakee, 
Fox river, and others are shown, but all bear their 
aboriginal names. 

At the head of the last-mentioned river is a small 
body of water that now forms a summer resort much 




Joliet's Map. 



sought by the weary — Pistakee lake, until recently 
pronounced Pes-ta-koo-ee. Whence that name? 
The little lake is shown on only one of the old maps, 
but the river flowing from it is on other maps laid 



26 LOST MARAMECH 

down and named "Pestekuoy." On Lanman's map, 
in his history of Michigan, the river, of which the lake 
is, in fact, but an enlargement, bears the same name. 
When Joliet, accompanied by the modest Mar- 
quette,* in his efforts to carry out the instructions 
of the governor of Canada, to him, to find the sea 
of the west, floated down the Wisconsin and Missis- 
sippi rivers, and, returning, stemmed the current of 
the Illinois river to the portage at "Chicagou," he 
sought to gather such information as, added to that 
acquired by La Salle and other earlier explorers and 
traders, would be beneficial to his king and fellow 
countrymen. 

We have his maps and also Marquette's. On a 
map, said to have been founded on Marquette's pub- 
lished in France in 1681, by Thevenot, a little north 
of the Illinois river, is drawn the picture of a 
buffalo, which, in the various Algonquin languages, 
bore the name given to the river of which I shall 
often speak, and to the lake above referred to that 
forms one of its enlargements as well as one of its 

♦Marquette, in his journal, tells us all about Joliet, appointed 
by the governor of New France to make the exploration, and 
the opportunity offered him to accompany the expedition. Yet 
so great was the desire of John G. Shea that the Catholics be 
given the credit that, in his History of the Catholic Missions, 
he devotes pages to the voyage, but fails to even mention 
Joliet's name. Although there were other Frenchmen in the 
party and some Indian guides, the author says: "Long sailed 
he on, with no witness to his way but the birds and beasts of 
the plains." The claims later made for Marquette by the 
Jesuits were not warranted by anything left in writing, or 
otherwise, by their hero. He admitted Joliet was the head 
and front of the exploration. 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 



27 



sources. The maker of Thevenot's map spelled the 
name of the animal PichikiS (Peeshikioo).* In the 
Jesuit Relations 
the name of the 
animal is spelled 
Pisikiou. Some 
c a rt ographers 
spelled it, as ap- 
plied to the 
river, Pestricotii, 
and Tony spelled 
it Pestego?iky\ 
each writer made 
his best effort to 
represent the un- 
familiar sounds 
that formed the 
word, by the use 
of the conven- 
t i ona 1 symbols 
of the sounds in 
his mother 

tongue, so far as his ear, dull to the language new 
to him, enabled him to do. 

In Franquelin's map of 1684, on the west bank of 
the river Pestekuoy, presumably a little above the 
confluence of Big Rock creek (which, however, is 
not on the ancient maps), is placed the town of 
Maramcch, In his later map the final two letters are 

*In Thevenot's Collection of Voyages, we find on page 12: 
"Nous appellons les Pisikiou s Boeuf Satevages," and the 
author goes on to say that they do so because these animals 
(the buffalo) are very similar to domestic cattle. 




28 



LOST MARAMECH 



omitted. On an early map, corrected by Tillamen 
(Paris, 1688), it is spelled Maramea. In Popples' 
map, of later date, it is Maraux, as also in an 




Franquelin's, 1688, Showing Maramech Differently 
Spelled. From Winsor's Narrative and Critical His- 
tory. 



unnamed and undated "official" French map of 
1718, now in the British Museum. 

It was ever the custom, among savage tribes, to 
give descriptive names to places and things. A 
stream that was characterized by an abundance of 




Maramech Hill, from the south. 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 29 

sturgeon was given the name of that fish, hence 
Merrimac was applied to the river of New England, 
and Marame to the Kalamazoo river of Michigan. 
A river in Missouri also bears the name. The word 
is seldom found spelled twice alike by old writers, 
but it meant the spiny sturgeon. 

Come with me to the site of ancient Maramech, 
the "great village" of the Miamis. The Fox river, 
as we now know it, always beautiful, in the autumn 
months has special charms. Great maple and wal- 
nut trees overhang its banks; plums, sweeter than 
any cultivated orchard ever produced, are found 
wild; pawpaws in September offer their riches, and 
nuts are the harvest of the squirrels. From the time 




Notion da Illinois 



Fragment of Popples' Map. Showing the Hills of 
Maramech. 



of the May apple and strawberry, in early summer, 
until the last nut has fallen, everything necessary to 
sustain life can be found growing spontaneously. 

Where once the natives raised their corn we now 
see great fields planted with but little greater regu- 
larity by the machine of to-day; the plow-cultivated 



30 



LOST MARAMECH 



rows show but little improvement over the aborig- 
inal method of placing the hills in rows, a long step 




PQ 



apart, and ridging them. The way we plant and 
"tend" was taught us by the people who left the 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 



3i 



golden legacy. Upon the hillsides that face the 
sun, the grapes of the white man grow no more 
luxuriantly than those whose clambering vines erst- 
while reached the very treetops. The wild grape 
was, to those early people, as great a luxury as it 




Tillman (Tillemon) 1688 



now is to the boys who gather from the few remain- 
ing vines the scattered bunches, sweetened by the 
early frosts. On these sunny hillsides, I am led to 
believe, they cultivated the large grape indigenous 
to our southern climates; early explorers speak of a 



LOST MARAMECH 



grape, the principal characteristic of which was its 
great size. With the passing into dust of the foster- 
ing hand, this grape also passed away, smitten by 
the rigors of our climate. 

This river, the river of the buffalo, always warm, 
born of the lakes that now form the summer resorts, 
tempts the bather precisely as it did the naked sav- 
age whose morning bath was taken in its pools. 




Fragment of Coronelli's Map of 1693. 

Picnic parties in gay attire are now rowed among 
the islands and along the shore, where, at the time 
my story begins, the canoe, hewn from a single log, 
was moved by arms as strong as those of modern 
athletes. In the beautiful river of the buffalo the 
bass, the pike, and other game fish may yet be 
found. The modern angler with rod and reel, his 
most precious lines and flies, makes no greater catch 
than did the man who, with torch at the bow, stand- 
ing astride of his canoe, threw his spear with uner- 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 



33 



ring aim at the darting pickerel. Where now the 
sportsman, with dog and modern arms, satisfies his 
savage thirst for blood, there the native, with bow 
and arrow, killed only to sustain life. The former 
kills for the love of it; and the latter, like him to 
whom the sportsman applies the epithet "pot- 
hunter," took the life of beasts and of the innocent 
feathered tribe only to sustain himself. 




Fragment of Gibson's Map, 1763. 



Beautiful river of the buffalo! River of the Rock! 
Fox river! Thy rounded bluffs, thy bordering 
woods, thy long stretches of bottom land, where the 
natives raised their corn, now blooming the summer 
long with Nature's best efforts, and thy graceful 
elms, where still the robin wakes the morn with 



34 



LOST MARAMECH 



song, I love thcc yet as when, in my early days, I 
read thee as a poem! 

Beautiful river! Adorned by the rocky mounds 
that gave thee thy second name in written history, 
Riviere du Rocher, thy charms call the people to the 
roomy "old mill," gray with age! There gather the 
young for frolic, the summer long! 

River of the Rock! How often midst the sum- 
mer's heat have I cooled my brow along thy shore, 
sitting beneath the shade trees that found scanty 
footing, and how often have I plunged from thy banks ! 

Beautiful valley! Often I have scanned thy face, 
sitting on those mounds that rise six times my height 
above the river, and contemplated what the years 
might tell of all that passed. Here lovers sat and 
told the old, old story. No well-kept lawn was 
ever more attractive than thy sod. Up the stream, 
along the shaded shore, once stretched the cabins 
of the denizens of Maramech. The hearth-stones 
that were within those cabins sometimes are laid 
bare by the melting snows of spring, which cause 
the stream to overflow its banks. Behind these 
dwellings were the fields, where melons grew, and 
from which came the roasting-ears that marked the 
time of the corn feast. 

From this rock, stretching along the river bank, to 
and on along the creek that adds its ever-cooling 
flood to the warmer waters of the river, extended the 
fields and homes. Only primitive art was displayed 
in the building of these shelters, but they were 
warm. Constructed of strong frames and covered 
with bark of the elm, or matting made of rushes, 
with roofs to match, they were impervious to wind 




Specimens of the Ceramic Art, from the site of Maramech. 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 



35 



and rain. In covered places, of which no mark is 
left, the corn was stored for winter's use, and upon 
scaffolds in the cabins, beans, dried pumpkins and 
squashes were kept for time of need. 

River of the Rock! Well it is that thy two tribu- 
taries, which unite and flow into thy channel, are 
still known by thy earlier name, now so nearly for- 
gotten; although the names of thy little tributaries 
linger, tradition does not tell us why so christened. 
Big Rock Creek I Thy waters, spring born, so cool in 
summer, yet warm enough to be proof against the win- 
ter's cold, are clear as those of the mountain stream. 
To all, except the geologist, it seems strange that thy 
waters are always bright, while neighboring streams 
are mere drains for the fields on the far-reaching 
prairies. The river that receives thy waters, with 
its lovely banks and groves, and the five prairies 
that almost meet, is only exceeded in its beauty by 
thy shades, where the bluebells of spring, delicate 
and tender as the eyes of beauty, have sought thy 
hillsides, where the violets, sweet as the wild rose of 
the prairies so near, lend their charms. Along thy 
banks were many of the long-vanished homes of 
Maramech. The line of cabins reached where stands 
the old mill whose gable windows blink to the mid- 
day sun, and, onward still, beyond where stood the 
older mill (now but a memory) that yielded its grists 
to the early settlers. 

Beautiful creek! Long before the savage instincts 
of the boy had been smothered, I learned to love 
thee. In thy pools the pickerel and bass, choosing 
thy cool waters, came from the warmer river and 
were tempted by my bait. 



36 LOST MARAMECH 

Burnt stones and bones, washed from the banks, 
show that generations of fishermen had already 
come and gone. 

The story of the Little Creek of the Rock is short. 
Along the bluffs clay, from which the potters of 
Maramech formed their wares, is found. This little 
stream that, within my memory, swept the southern 
foot of Maramech hill, for a time was diverted by 
the hand of man to turn his wheels. Obedient only 
for a while it was; then, like the horse long re- 
strained, taking the bit in its teeth and running at 
will, it burst its bounds and sought again the old 
channel. But during the years of its restraint, the 
rainfalls upon the now bare summit of Maramech 
hill had torn away the ancient passage from fort to 
creek, of which I shall tell, thrown a gravel-spit 
across the old channel and forced this stream to a 
third course. The surrounding swamp that faintly 
marks the unhealed scar of the little stream of geo- 
logical times, finds, in part, drainage into Big Rock 
creek, and in part an outlet into the lesser stream 
Lately the swamp has been cut by another gravel- 
spit, so that, at all times, one may ignore the new- 
cut road at the eastern side and pass to the hill dry- 
shod. 

By common consent, since my studies resulted in 
the identification of the place, a name has been 
given this romantic spot. The "Great Village of 
Maramech" having been near the hill, why not, it 
was thought, call the latter by that name? May it 
not have been so in the language now little spoken?* 

*At a time not very remote, perhaps not more than ten 
thousand years ago, the smaller creek ran to the west of this 




Maramech Hill. The "gentle slope, rising to the west and northwest from a 

little river." 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 37 

Before the Galena limestone, on which the great 
depth of gravel forming the hill rests, was swept 
bare by glacial action, many forms of animal life 
existed, differing little from those we know. The 
great ice-cap crept from the north, and by its slow but 
mighty forces crushed the rocks whose debris forms 
these gravel-beds. Its resistless share turned under 
all forms of life; in the gravel of the hill, to the south, 
a considerable depth below the surface, a tooth 
of the great American elephant was recently found. 
The gravel-beds being so dry, this pre-glacial relic 
shows for itself that it had been well housed. 

Before this hill was laid, these monsters browsed 
in the forests that ultimately fell with them. Before 
the river had found its way, these gravels had been 
sifted and shifted and laid in beds as clean as the 
sands of the seashore. The region was a lake during 
a later time, because a barrier of marble whiteness, 
the St. Peter Sandstone, rose high a few miles south- 
ward. The softer strata, the shales of the Cincin- 
nati Group of the Lower Silurian period, for a 
distance of three miles to the north, had been 
gouged away and the basin thus formed later became 
filled with the gravels and sifted sands. The cool 

island-like hill. What is now so isolated from the neighboring 
bluffs was then a peninsula, long, narrow, and high. It was a 
long turn the little creek then made to join its larger brother ; 
the high peninsula for a half mile separated them. For cen- 
turies the little stream dug at the barrier. Gently it carved 
when the bordering trees and shrubs were in leaf and bloom ; 
but when the melting snows of spring formed floods it tore at 
the walls of drift-gravels with greater might until its task was 
done and the high neck of land could no more obstruct its way. 
Where so long ran the little stream is now the swamp. 



38 LOST MARAMECH 

waters of the melting ice of the Glacial Epoch per- 
mitted no abundant life in this lake; a few beds of 
shell-marl show on the hillsides. As the waters of 
the ice-fields ran away, the barrier of white sand- 
stone became worn low, and the new-born river 
carved out its valley. Then began the development 
of life that culminated in the beauties we now see. 
As if they had turned the edge of the great plow- 
share, the mounds of rock, almost an old French 
land league southward from the hill, stand well 
above the surface of the river valley. One of them 
drops its sides, a large part of its more than thirty- 
five feet, almost directly into the river. Beside this, 
a twin rock rises with rounded sides and summit. 
The river, diligent and effective as the tooth of 
time, has cut its way through these hard strata. 
Before the white man's destructive hand had 
wrought havoc by taking building material for a 
dam from the cliff on the eastern shore, a spring 
flowed from it through a crevice which, for a dis- 
tance, it had eroded wide and high. To this roomy 
part, extending fifty feet into the rocky ledge, early 
settlers gave the name Black Hawk's Cave. Why 
so called we do not know, but we do know that the 
early settlers held that great warrior in fear, and that 
Black Hawk, as we shall see, often trod the trail 
passing the site of then ancient Maramech, and 
sometimes camped a little less than a short French 
league from the cave that continued to exist but 
little longer than he. 

The stone in the massive walls of the old mill and 
its dam were quarried there, and from this place also 
has been taken, for two generations, the necessary 




One of the twin Rocks, each over an acre in extent, that gave the beautiful river its 
second name in history, Riviere du Rocher. 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 



39 



material for lime and other building purposes of the 
surrounding country and the busy little city near 
by; enough is left for several cities by no means 
small. Attractive, because of the beauties of its 
surroundings and man's love of romance, this mill 
has been converted into a summer resort; and here 
gather, for rest or for frolic, the old and the young 
from the stifling cities. It is but an old story, for 
here the sun-painted children of many generations 
played, and lovers sat and sighed beneath the trees 
upon the mound. 

So prominent are these rocks, each more than an 
acre in extent, that the beautiful Pestekouy lost its 
name to be called Riviere du Rocher.* From Mara- 
mech hill the rock is hidden by a point of bluff, but 
we can look across the river, up the stream to the 
east, or down it some distance to the south. The 
view, in the anniversary month of the great slaugh- 
ter, becomes lost in either direction in the autumn 
haze; a rapid here and there, not too strong for a 
light canoe to stem, is all that breaks the surface of 
the waters that reflect the turning leaves of the 
maples on either bank. 

Toward the rising sun went, and from the east 

*The Fox River enters the Illinois nine full miles above 
"The Rock" of La Salle's old fort. I have been informed by- 
French scholars in Paris that the name Riviere du Rocher 
could not have been given because of its nearness to the rock 
upon which La Salle's lieutenant, Tonty, erected his defenses. 
The name, they told me, bears evidence that it was given 
because of some characteristic feature along it. After the pass- 
ing away of the buffalo, from which the river took its first 
known name, no more noticeable feature characterized it than 
the rounded rocks at Maramech. 



40 



LOST MARAMECH 



came hunting parties, parties bent on war and, from 
time to time, messengers bearing the pipe of peace. 
Over the great trail, mapped in by Thevenot in 
1681, and last traveled by the tribe by whose name 
it was known when came the white man, the Sauk 
Trail, labored the beasts of burden, urged on by 




tout.ou PeOTT2L 



Fragment of Hennepin's Map, 1683. Showing the 
Great Trail. 

dusky drivers. They came to the trading stations. 
Such means of transportation we now know little of 
but in story. Two long poles, connected by thongs 
to a rude saddle upon horses, their butt ends reaching 
backward to the ground, and a rude rawhide basket 
between, formed the only conveyance. Packed 
with the decrepit and the children or with furs, or 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 



4i 



both, these vehicles stirred the soil into dust which 
the winds blew away. The sodless trails were worn 
deeper as years passed until abandoned by the 
natives and those who sought their trade. Later 
came the whites, and where ran the trails there fol- 
lowed the ox-teams of the first settlers who, turning 




The Trail, as Shown by De Lisle, 1703. 



to the roadside wherever a location of particular 
charm was reached, erected cabins and made claims, 
almost always fronting on the trail. Wherever the 
boundary lines of the early farms do not correspond 
with the points of the compass followed by later sur- 
veys, the course of the trail may now be discovered. 



42 LOST MARAMECH 

The first stage roads followed the old trails, and 
some of the public roads that serve the present 
generation were traveled before America was discov- 
ered by Europeans. Where were fording places in 
the rivers, there centered the many paths, worn 
deeply by the hoofs of deer and buffalo, so often 
mentioned by the many explorers. 

The great east-and-west trail crossed the Peste- 
kouy at Maramech, while the village existed, and 
both before and since; and there came also the Kish- 
waukee Trail, from the swamps of the northwest, 
over which were brought the furs most sought by the 
traders. Although I have found but little authority, 
other than the river courses, I believe that not all of 
the French goods were brought up the stream to 
Maramech and the half dozen other towns along the 
river Pestekouy. Many were brought up from Fort 
St. Louis, that, from its establishment by La Salle 
to about 1700, was an entrepot; but much was car- 
ried from the lake near where now is Racine, Wis., 
to the little lakes where forms the stream. 

In St. Cosme's account of his voyage down the 
Mississippi river, he speaks of the portage between 
the head of Root river, that adds its mite to Lake 
Michigan at Racine, Wis., and the head of the Fox 
river of Illinois, and of the route he would have 
taken to reach the Mississippi but for the low water 
in the rivers at that season of the year. This route, 
that I have before spoken of as the one taken by the 
French in bringing goods to Maramech, he calls the 
river Pistrid, and tells us that it enters the Illinois 
about twenty-five or thirty leagues from Chikagu. 
At Maramech many trails met. Over them came 







The Kishwaukee trail, worn deep by heavy feet, and feet so light, still scars 
the Hill. [Photo by the Author.) 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 43 

visiting tribes and roving bands of hunters. Along 
the larger creek, where now stands the old mill built 
of wood, gray in its decay as the miller who catered 
for years to the needs of the hungry settlers, was an 
extension of the great village of Maramech. 

The hill, so fatal to the Foxes a generation after 
it was deserted by the Miamis, rose between the two 
parts of the town, and hugged the creek so closely 
that the way from one to the other could only be 
made by passing over its narrow summit where it 
droops to little more than half the height of the 
peak so near, which peak, in times of danger, served 
the purpose of a lookout. Deeply worn are still the 
paths that formed the terminus of the Kishwaukee 
Trail — doubly worn by denizens of the divided vil- 
lage of Maramech. 

Leave the modern road near the mill, turn to 
the right into the pasture and direct your steps to 
the lowest place in sight; halt when half way up the 
path, and where you stand moccasined feet trod 
for generations. So deeply worn the trail, a hun- 
dred years of wash of storm and heaving frost have 
not defaced it. The few animals pastured there 
keep the path fresh. How many feet, some weary 
and others fleet, have passed where now you stand, 
and rested beneath the trees that shield you from 
the summer's sun! 

With the long-lapsed years in mind we seem to 
see canoes passing up the river laden with furs, and 
coming down with trinkets that have been received 
in exchange for the hunters' harvests. From where 
the little village of Waukegan dots the shore of 
Lake Michigan to the headwaters of this river, a 



44 



LOST MARAMECH 



trail was long in use by the hunters and traders who 
gathered the furs of beaver and the skins of the 
deer and buffalo. 

On an old French map, the author of which is not 
given, is found laid down the river. At a point 
nearly due west from where Chicago is situated on 
Lake Michigan, is placed Saut, the French word for 
rapid. This leads one to believe that that rapid 

was at the rocky 
channel where, at 
and above the 
mounds that gave 
the river its sec- 
ond name in his- 
tory, a dam has 
been built. Pinart, 
who copied the 
map, in 1893, 
from the original 
in the Depot de 
la Marine, Paris, 
says that, al- 
though no date 
is given, it does 
not appear that this map was drawn later than 1680. 
In the Bibliotheque du Depot de la Marine, at 
Paris, is the accompanying dateless, nameless map 
that much interests the seeker after certain histor- 
ical knowledge. Parkman credits it to the Jesuits. 
In this no doubt he is partly right, for on it crosses 
show the location of many of the early missions 
founded by that order. Its author is unknown, but 
I believe it to have been drawn from knowledge 




Fragment of Date- 
less Old French 
Map. 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 



45 



gained from Nicolet, Raddison, Grosseilliers, Per- 
rot, and Allouez. Parkman believes that it was 
made subsequent to Joliet's voyage, because the 
great river is laid down as "Colbert," the name 
given it, as claimed, by Joliet. Of a score of early 
maps in my possession, on only three is Colbert 
given. Joliet gives it "Baude" on one of his, and 
"River that discharges into the Gulf of Mexico," 
on two others. Some of the knowledge upon which 
this anonymous map was founded was gained as early 
as 1640, for the place of death of Father Mey- 
nard is shown. The Kankakee, traversed by La 
Salle in 1679, is not laid down. The map may be 
as early as 1673, but the Chicago portage is prop- 
erly shown, as it is on Joliet's and Marquette's 
maps. That it shows the Mississippi river lower 
than the Arkansas river does not prove that it was 
drawn later than the true map of Marquette, for he 
who drew it may have obtained his information 
from the same source as did Joliet and Marquette, 
as we find in the latter' s journal, in which we read 
as follows: "We gathered all the knowledge that 
we were able from savages who had frequented the 
places, and even traced, from their reports, a map of 
all the new country; we laid down the rivers we should 
navigate, the names of the people and the places we 
should pass, the course of the Great River and the 
points of the compass [direction] we should take." 
Many towns are laid down by Marquette that he 
never saw. The map he drew before starting on 
the voyage may have been the very one left us. 
The information given him by the natives was acces- 
sible for many years before 1673. 



4 6 



LOST MARAMECH 



The fact that the Falls of St. Anthony (merely 
written Sauf) are shown on the map under consider- 
ation does not prove that the map was made later 
than the expedition of Michael Acou,'the trader, 
and Hennepin, the priest, who were sent up the Mis- 
sissippi river by La Salle, because traders had been 
there before. 

Natives had also brought details that enabled 




Fragment of John Andrew's Map of 1782, One of the First 
to Show Fox River and Give Its Present Name. 



cartographers to lay down rivers far beyond any 
point where white men had been. I credit the first 
knowledge we get of the Pestekuoy River (the Fox 
river of Illinois) to Allouez, and believe him to 
have also given those who drew some of the other 
maps, the knowledge which enabled them to lay 
down the beautiful river which courses the region so 
abundant in the gifts of Nature. The lake at its 
head, the saut, rapid, (quite likely that where the 
ruined dam now frets the waters and the old stone 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 



47 



mill frowns), and the junction of the river with the 
Illinois, all show a fair amount of knowledge gained, 
possibly, as early as 1669-70, when Allouez visited 
the various tribes around Green Bay and west and 
south thereof. The tribe that now most interests 
us is known to have been at the bend of Wolf 
river in what is now Sugar Bush township, Outaga- 
mie county, Wisconsin; the Mascoutins are placed 




Reproduction De Cartes, by M. Shafer, in Lenox Library, 
Showing the Location of the Outagamy (Fox) Village. 



on old maps not far from the present site of Waukon, 
and the Kickapoos near the head of Rock river. 

During the sixty years, or more, that Maramech 
was known to exist by the French, its center shifted, 
but at. what is now known as Sylvan Springs was 
probably the main council fire. There, in the heavy 
timber, the wigwams were best sheltered from the 
winter blasts. The great trees of those days have 



48 LOST MARAMECH 

no doubt gone into decay, but the shelter was then 
as it is now under the newer ones. The tempting 
shades of the great elm and walnut trees attracted 
the weary, and the springs along the bluff formed 
an inexhaustible supply of cool water. Opposite 
Sylvan Springs, where the corn now grows luxur- 
iantly, were the fields of Maramech. Along the 
border of the river are a few mounds which mark 
the last resting-places of the chiefs of an older race 
that occupied the region long before the Miamis 
had built the cabins of Maramech. Still down the 
river, upon the same side, Rob Roy creek adds its 
mite to the waters of the river. Here, upon a 
slight elevation, seems to have been, at some time, a 
nucleus of population, and behind it, upon the slope 
of the hill, more fragments of pottery have been 
found than elsewhere, which makes it seem that 
this, for a time, may have been the "pottery" of 
the "great village of Maramech." The soil has 
been turned so many times, during the last thirty 
years, that potsherds, never too well burned, have 
crumbled, and where, not many years ago, frag- 
ments were quite abundant, few are now found. 
Where Big Rock creek adds its coolness to the 
waters of the river, was another congested position. 
This we know by the cabin sites, indicated by frag- 
ments of burnt stones. Behind this is a bit of 
prairie that was, no doubt, under cultivation for 
years, and along the foot of the hill were places of 
burial. 




Work of the Potters of Maramech. 



CHAPTER III 

On the bold bluff, up the river and to the east, a 
mile or more, sleep many of the denizens of Mara- 
mech. Carefully made graves prove the veneration 
of the savages for their dead. It seems to have 
been a poetic inspiration that led to the selection of 
a spot where the beauties of Nature are so boun- 
teous. Sloping to the sun, the river approaches the 
foot of the hill. Rushes shed their flossy tresses 
when stirred by the breezes. The goldenrod and 
autumn daisies, the only intruders in the yet native 
sod, the open wood and quiet river make a picture 
that tempts the artist. No lettered stones mark the 
places and no owl hoots from bell-tower. These 
people long ago sought the happy hunting-grounds 
by way of the grave, and Maramech, like them, is 
no more. Only their bones and a few potsherds 
tell the place of either. 

How do we know that they who there sleep were 
the people of Maramech? La Salle, who spent 
months at the great Illinois town near Starved 
Rock, in La Salle county, was successful in uniting 
the various tribes of Indians, in order to enable 
them to make a common defense against the Iro- 
quois. Among these tribes were the Miamis of 
Maramech, Pepikokias, and Kilatikas. Some were 
led to settle on Buffalo Rock, a few miles east of 
Starved Rock, and many had already made their 
homes along the Pestekouy near by. The branch 

49 



5Q 



LOST MARAMECH 




of the Miamis that remained at Maramech received 
from the French traders the goods, useful and orna- 
mental, which they needed. In their graves have 
been found beautiful fabrics. Among the finest 

were fragments of 
a broadcloth robe, 
thickly beset with 
silver buckles 
the size of a 
dime. Rouge and 
"cheap-John" ar- 
ticles of various 
kinds have repaid 
the efforts of cu- 
riosity seekers. A finely wrought bullet-mould cut 
from a bit of argillaceous shale, gives proof of 
skillful workmanship. Two parts, with a half sphere 
worked in each, an opening formed between the 
two into which the molten lead was poured, and 
grooves at the ends and sides in which the string 
binding might lie, served a purpose equal to the 
best bullet-mould of the gunsmith of to-day. 

No stones mark the graves, and the slight 
depressions visible forty years ago have become 
filled with sediment so that the exact places of 
sepulture are only made known when, for pelf, the 
gravel of this hillside is carted away. The frag- 
ments of bark, now nearly dust, show the winding 
sheet to have been taken from the giant trees then 
near by. I have before me a fragmentary skull of 
one of the people of Maramech. If it had a 
tongue we know it might tell much; that it would 
tell us of the brighter side of life is evidenced by the 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 



51 



teeth, as little worn and white as those of the dandy 
of to-day; and there is no evidence that they 
required the care of a dentist. The wisdom tooth 
shows maturity and, if of a male, as seems probable, 
we might hear the story of the first visit of the 
Frenchmen; of the wars made by the Iroquois, or of 
the raids, in turn, against the warlike Five Nations. 
The green stain upon the jaw-bone tells of a cheap 
necklace, bought of the French traders. This skull, 
finely formed, speaks of the brain of a man of intel- 
ligence. Unlettered though its possessor, he may 
have swayed the multitude in council. His eloquent 
tongue and logical reasoning, for which the red man 
was ever noted, may have equaled that of Tecumseh 
or Red Jacket. He may, in fact, have been one of 
the chiefs of the "Great Village of Maramech." 

From a cabin, in the shade of the overhanging 
trees that border the beautiful Pestekouy, we seem 
to see a bier borne by braves, on which, wrapped in 
his robes of fur, lies the conquered warrior. Ten- 
derly his clay is laid in the dugout, hewn from a 
great tree trunk, in which, at bow and stern, kneel 
the ones whose chosen duty it is to row it o'er the 
rippling river. In cadence with the dipping paddles 
are mournful songs and dirges sung. The cortege 
passes the low island and onward to the green hill- 
side, bared to the sun, where waits the new-made 
grave. 

When the spirit departed on its long journey to 
the happy hunting-grounds, the erstwhile owner of 
this fragment was wept. With this fragment was 
found a piece of the bone of the buffalo which, when 
covered with flesh, had been placed with the body 



52 LOST MARAMECH 

to sustain the spirit on its long way. Rude though 
the coffin, it was of hewn walnut, that wood so 
prized to-day. No hearse was trundled over pave- 
ment stones, but a pageant, bowed with grief, carried 
the body to its resting-place on an impromptu bier. 
Loving hands wrapped the remains in the furs and 
blankets, and there placed the ornaments the spirits 
of which were expected to adorn the departed soul. 
We do not know what thoughts prompted the burial 
of possessions with the body; perhaps it was in 
accordance with the beliefs of many tribes that ani- 
mals and material things have souls. The dog was 
buried with its master to serve him in the new 
hunting-grounds. A kettle was broken and buried 
there so that, also being dead, its soul might be 
valuable to the departed. 

If this fragment that formed the brain cavity could 
talk it might tell us of the war dance, of the corn 
festival and of the sugar making. It might tell us 
of the many industries. I seem to hear it speak of 
the mortar scooped in a log, and of the women, 
young and fair, pounding corn for the sagamite, 
while admiring warriors are lounging near. The 
little metate* I found near the spring, little more than 
a brick in size, slightly hollowed upon one side, 
served to grind the nuts that seasoned the mess of 
pottage. This shattered skull might tell of the 
weavers of buffalo wool, busy at the primitive 
looms, and the potters, their clay tempered with 
crushed granite, forming the vessels we now find 
only in pieces. 

* A hollowed stone on which, with another stone, corn, nuts 
and grain were crushed or ground. 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 53 

In their day-dreams the loved ones, whom the 
departed had left behind, watched the soul on its 
way to the happy hunting-grounds. On and on they 
seemed to see him wander, with faithful dog that 
mocked his every turn. Where shades of summer 
trees, clambering vines and carpets of the softest 
mosses tempted him, he took his frequent rests. 
The pleasing thoughts of the watching loved ones, 
inspired by his progress, were dispelled by visions 
in which dream-clad feet outstripped him and they 
saw, far before him, the rapid river he must cross or 
his soul perish. The slender fallen tree, laid by the 
Great Spirit, reaching from shore to shore and 
shaken by the rapid waters that swirled around its 
immersed branches, was yet to test his courage. 
While in the flesh he had no dread of wars. For 
years his scalp had been a freely-offered prize to 
any one of other tribes with courage and of strength 
to take it; but at last he cowered. Many passed 
before him, but others failed. The weaker souls 
fell to be swept into an unconscious eternity. Those 
left by him on this mortal shore feared, in dreams 
of night, and hoped in their dreams of waking hours, 
as love only can, and longed to see him reach the 
land of sun and everlasting flowers that, bounded by 
the lisping waters of the quiet western sea, should 
be to him a place of rest as long as stars should gem 
the great white river overhead. He reached the 
swaying bridge and was appalled, but go he must. 
The beckoning hands on the other shore of eternity, 
and the words of inspiration, spurred him to his 
utmost and, with halting steps and snail-like prog- 
ress, his long journey found its end; so, too, did that 



54 LOST MARAMECH 

of his faithful pet and slave that, trembling in every 
limb upon the frail bridge, dogged his steps. 

'Tis ever thus with cultured and with savage 
minds. In their waking dreams was the vision of 
tireless Love and Lagging Hope, hand in hand, 
leading the soul of the late departed. When came 
the visions of the night despair oft cast a spell whose 
shudder woke the dreamer to again be cheered by- 
Hope. 

The central village, in 1684, was estimated to have 
one hundred and fifty warriors, which meant a popu- 
lation of about seven hundred and fifty; but the 
town had many near neighbors that were occupied 
by branches of the Miami nation. Although the 
various Algonquin tribes were from time to time at 
war, they were also often at peace, and then they 
mingled freely. Upon the first visit of the cotireurs 
du bois to Green Bay, it may have been, that the 
Miamis and Illinois met by them came direct from the 
village of Maramech. We know that these people 
told the traders of the richness of their country, and 
we know that Maramech was the most important 
town near Green Bay, unless "Chicagou" had 
already become permanently peopled by that tribe. 

In imagination we may spend a night in Mara- 
mech. The winds of approaching winter are [whis- 
tling through the maples. The weary hunter has 
returned from the slough, the haunt of the mallard 
duck, with the result of his day's efforts, including, 
perhaps, a wild goose from a belated flock. He 
heard their clanking cry, "go look," and sought 
them where he had seen them drop in the rushes 
for rest after a long southward flight. He enters 




Relics of the Miller of Maramech 
and his Mill. 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 55 

his cabin and throws down the game; but few words 
disturb or welcome him. A mat is spread before 
the fire, and his good wife brings a bowl of soup to 
refresh him and then prepares a hearty meal. A 
duck is dressed, cut into small pieces and partially 
cooked; then cornmeal is stirred in and, when all is 
done, the favorite dish of the Indian tribes, saga- 
mite seasoned with meats, is placed before the 
hungry huntsman. While the meal is being prepared 
the children are at play, but their noise is hushed, 
for nothing must disturb the returned master of the 
cabin, who needs rest. After the repast and his 
smoke, he then addresses whomsoever he wishes 
and from that time all are at liberty to speak to 
him; he has been refreshed, is rested and is again as 
one of the family. He tells of the adventures of 
the day; his wife, in turn, tells him of the little 
incidents that occurred during his absence. She 
removes her kettles, replenishes the fire, and all the 
children gather around. The father repeats a stereo- 
typed folk-lore tale for the children and the story 
that he heard from an Iroquois captive: 

"There was once a hermit called The Long- 
Haired, whose memory is still held in veneration. 
During his time the village where he was born was 
attacked by a great mortality that took away the 
principal men, one dying after another. Every 
night a bird of ill-omen flew over the cabins, flap- 
ping its wings with a great noise and putting forth 
sad cries that aroused the fears of all. No one 
doubted this was the Oiaron, or beast that caused 
the plague; but no one knew from whence the harm 
came. In this terrible extremity the council of old 



56 LOST MARAMECH 

men deputized three of the most able ones to pray 
to The Long-Haired to have pity and aid them; his 
condition did not permit him to quit his retreat; 
besides, he never would condescend to come to the 
village. He gave the deputies permission to come 
to him, however, to learn his last resolution. 
They came at the appointed time, and the hermit 
showed them three arrows he had made in their 
absence, and without communicating anything of 
his design he said he only requested them to exam- 
ine the arrows in order to be able to recognize 
them. That evening, toward sunset, The Long- 
Haired went to his ambuscade on a little hill that 
was near the village. The bird came out of the 
trunk of a tree at dusk, spread his wings as usual 
and named distinctly some of the principal men 
that he had destined to die the next day. When 
the hermit perceived the bird he advanced slyly, 
shot him with one of his arrows and retired, sure of 
having wounded the bird of ill-omen. The day 
following the news spread in the village that a cer- 
tain young man, who was alone in a poor cabin with 
a woman, was very sick. The old men, attentive to 
all that passed, sent to visit him secretly, as with- 
out design, the three deputies who had been to see 
The Long-Haired. The sick man was too much 
pressed by his disability to be able to dissimulate. 
An arrow had entered his side. The arrow of the 
hermit was recognized. Secret instructions had 
been given to those who came to treat the afflicted 
one and, in their efforts ostensibly to pull the arrow 
from the wound, they directed it in such a way as 
to pierce the heart of the wounded man. The old 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 57 

woman, yet more culpable than her son, was igno- 
rant of the source from whence the stroke had come, 
but perceived well what the old men had done. 
She, being a woman, had not the humor to belie her 
sex, and sought vengeance. She resolved to kill 
the hermit as her first victim; but her crime was not 
conducted with much secrecy. In spite of her 
different changes of form, she was discovered. 
They burned her with all the refinement of cruelty 
of the Iroquois. She confessed that her son, being 
irritated, had wished to avenge himself on one who, 
returning from the hunt, had neglected to include 
him in the distribution of the game. She sustained 
the torments of the fire in laughing at and insulting 
her tormentors. After her death the plague recom- 
menced. The sorcerers being consulted, responded 
that the unfortunate old woman was the cause; that 
she had been changed to the marmot which had been 
her mascot during her life. On seeing that it 
retired to a den at the foot of a hill where her son 
had changed his form, and had been wounded, fire 
was at once applied and smoke having forced it to 
come out, it was killed. A monument was erected 
at the entrance of the den to testify to the truth of 
the story." 

The story of Wa-sa-ri was then told: 

"Once upon a time, in a stream, there lived a 
bullhead and his family. The old one said one 
day: 'Oh, I am so hungry; I must go out and find 
something to eat; I will go and see what I can 
find.' He wiggled his way up stream and he saw 
the tops of the bushes that grew on the bank 
waving occasionally, and knew what it meant. He 



58 



LOST MARAMECH 



swam to that side of the stream and raised^ his head 
out of the water and rested it upon a rock and 
began to sing in a half-monotonous way and in a 
piping voice, 




i— #- 



-* — r- * 



We - sha - wa - wi - ni kash - kash - kash. 



[The horns of the elk are utterly useless.] 

"This derisive song annoyed the elk and he came 
to the bank to see who was taunting him. Seeing 
the bullhead, he said to him: 'You little fool, if 
you don't stop singing that song I will come in and 
kick you out of the water and on that bank where 
you will die.' But the bullhead, smiling, kept on 
singing until in plunged the elk and repeated his 
command; but still the bullhead's squeaking voice 
was heard, 'We-sha-wa-wi-ni kash-kash-kash.' The 
elk turned to kick, but the bullhead swam clear of 
his heels; turning on him the elk again kicked, but 
the bullhead wiggled out of danger. This was 
repeated until the elk became exhausted. Then 
the bullhead wiggled his way cautiously and pierced 
the cord of one of the heels of the elk with one of 
his spines and in that way disabled that leg, so that 
one hip went clown. The elk floundered, but the 
bullhead quickly stung the other heel and the hind 
quarters of the elk sank into the water. The bull- 
head next stung the front legs and the elk fell help- 
less. No further danger; the bullhead stung the elk 
to death. Then the bullhead invited all of his chil- 
dren and friends to the feast, but before beginning 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 5g 

to eat they raised their heads out of the water and 
with a squeaking voice sang: ' We-sha-wa-wi-ni 
kash-kash-kash.' " 

Then the uncle filled his pipe, puffed awhile, 
and told the story of the ducks: 

"One time Wi-sa-ka was walking along the shore 
of a lake and, being hungry, wondered where and 
how he could get something to eat. Soon after he 
saw his younger brothers, the ducks, that were flap- 
ping their wings and quacking. 'Oh! I now know 
what to do,' he said. 'I am going to catch those 
fellows over there.' So he pulled some long reeds 
and, getting a big bundle of them, put them on his 
shoulders and, as if bent under a heavy load, went 
walking along the lake within sight of his younger 
brothers. The ducks soon saw him and said to one 
another, 'There goes Wi-sa-ka, our elder brother; I 
wonder what he has on his shoulders.' 'Oh, Wi- 
sa-ka,' they called, 'stop, wait, we want to see you; 
where are you going? What is that you have on 
your shoulders? Tell us what it is.' And thus they 
called, but Wi-sa-ka paid no attention to them until 
he came to a good place to sit down; then he turned 
around and made believe that he had just heard 
them for the first time. 'Oh, is that you, my young 
brothers, calling to me?' he said. 'Well, hurry up 
and tell me what you want, for I have a long journey 
before me.' 'What is that you have on your shoul- 
ders?' they asked. 'Oh, I cannot tell you,' he 
replied. 'Do tell us,' they said, 'we will do any- 
thing you ask us to.' He replied, 'Well, if you 
must know, they are songs.' They said, 'Let one 
sing to us.' 'Well, one shall sing if you will dance 



60 LOST MARAMECH 

for me.' 'All right,' they said, and came waddling 
along, single file, and took their places before him. 
'Now,' he said, 'you must dance hard; I have a lot 
of songs here but will use but one, for I have a long 
journey before me. When you dance you must shut 
both your eyes,' he said, and began to beat time 
with one of the reeds, and the reed began to sing 
and Wi-sa-ka sang with it. 'Shut your eyes,' he 
said, 'and don't open them; the one that opens his 
eyes will make them turn red. Dance hard, dance 
hard,' he shouted, and away they danced, their 
beaks pointed skyward. 'Bunch up! Bunch up! 
The best part of the song is yet to come!' This he 
said and kept singing as he untied the string of his 
bow and made a slip-noose to throw over their 
heads. Just as he tightened the noose mud-hen 
ducked, for all the while she had been watching 
Wi-sa-ka and seeing what he had been doing. 'Fly 
away, fly away,' she cried, 'he is going to catch us.' 
As mud-hen ducked her head, Wi-sa-ka pulled tight 
the noose and caught all of the ducks and ruffled up 
the top-feathers of mud-hen. Away she flew into 
the lake, and as she hit the water Wi-sa-ka shouted 
at her, 'Ho!' her top-feathers still standing up, and 
as he shouted his forceful breath turned the top- 
feathers farther forward, and such a head she has 
had ever since. And the red eyes she has were 
made so by straining to see what Wi-sa-ka was 
doing. 

"Wi-sa-ka gathered his ducks and went over the 
hill and there he built a fire. He soon made a big 
heap of coals and ashes. 'Here is where I am 
going to cook my ducks,' he said, 'and I will sleep 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 61 

while they are cooking. When I have had my sleep 
out, I will get up and eat.' So he covered his ducks 
in the hot ashes and coals, leaving only their feet 
sticking out, and then lay down to sleep. By and 
by some foxes got a smell of the cooking ducks. 
'Hello,' they said, 'it is something good; let us fol- 
low up and see what it is,' and away they trotted. 
Coming near the fire they saw something sleeping 
there, and presently they saw that it was Wi-sa-ka. 
'You go there,' said one to the other, 'and find out 
what there is so good.' 'No, you go,' said one to 
the other. Finally one plucked up courage and 
went over, and as he came near the fire Wi-sa-ka 
rolled over. Away ran the fox as fast as he could 
go. 'He is awake,' said he. 'No, he is not,' said 
his friend. Then back the fox went, and when he 
got there he saw what was in the bed of ashes and 
coals, and motioned to his friend to come. They 
pulled out the ducks and bit off their feet and made 
up the heap of coals and ashes as before, and stuck 
the ducks' feet back as they had found them. Away 
they then went with the ducks. By and by Wi-sa- 
ka awoke and took his time in getting up. 'Now I 
am going to have something good to eat,' he said. 
'My ducks should be well cooked by this time. ' He 
slowly poked the ashes away, but all he found was 
the feet sticking out. 'Well, I slept too long for 
this duck; it is all cooked away.' Then he poked 
the ashes away from another place. Again he only 
found the feet sticking out. Then he got upon his 
feet and began to suspect something. By the time 
he had pulled the ashes away from another place he 
was sure that something had taken his ducks. He 



62 LOST MARAMECH 

looked carefully and saw tracks all around in the 
ashes and then he knew what had become of his 
ducks. As he started after the thieves he heard 
what seemed to be a voice overhead saying, 'Neg-ya, 
Neg-ya' [the word which the sound seemed to imi- 
tate meaning my mother in the Algonquin tongue]. 
'Oh,' he said, 'my mother died long ago.' But the 
voice kept on saying, 'Neg-ya, Neg-ya,' and as he 
looked up over his shoulder he saw two branches of a 
tree rubbing against each other as the wind moved 
them. He jumped up to pull the branches apart to 
stop the irritating sounds. At that moment a gust 
of wind came by and forced the branches apart and 
then let them come together again, catching Wi-sa- 
ka's hands between, and there he hung while he 
beheld the foxes eating his ducks. They taunted 
him by telling him how good they were. When 
they had finished the last one they trotted away, and 
only then came another gust of wind that blew the 
branches apart enough to release Wi-sa-ka's bruised 
fingers. " 

The crimson leaves of the maples made the story 
of those who chased the bear an appropriate one. 

"Three Foxes went hunting, a long time ago. 
They had a little dog with them. It was the time 
of the first snowfall. By and by they struck the 
trail of a bear. The trail went up a hill. They fol- 
lowed the trail, the little dog leading. As they 
went along they saw the trail leading up to a sumac 
thicket. At first the tops of the sumac were waving 
to and fro, and then they became still. Presently 
the bear stuck his head out and saw the hunters 
coming. At that he withdrew. The hunter in the 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 



63 



lead ran around to the other side to head him off.* 
Then another hunter ran around to the north, and 
the other to the south. Every time the bear ran 
out there was a hunter there to head him off and 
drive him back. This kept the hunters running 
round and round the thicket. By and by they 
wounded the bear with an arrow, and away he ran, 
the hunters after him. They flung away their bows 




and arrows and, with the arrow in his wound, away 
the bear ran, the hunters after him. They pulled 
out their knives to grapple with him and slay him. 
They were a long time in dispatching the bear. By 
and by one of the men, the one in the rear, stopped 
and looked all around him, and saw that he was in 

*Evidently the bear was pulling the tops of the bushes down 
to eat the "bobs." but to stop to explain to the listeners, who 
are supposed to know things so common, would interrupt the 
flow of the story, and to interrupt to the extent of asking a 
question is not allowed. 



64 LOST MARAMECH 

a strange place. On looking he saw, way down 
there below, the earth all green, the little lodges 
and little people, and rivers and their windings. 
Then he called to the man ahead: 'Ma-ta-pye, hold 
on! we are going into the sky;' but Ma-ta-pye paid 
no attention, neither did Wa-pa-na-shi-wa, who was 
pressing the bear hard. So finding that his com- 
panions paid no heed, he continued the chase, and 
all followed the bear all winter, all the spring, and 
all the summer, and overtook him in the fall, when 
they butchered the bear. They placed the meat on 
sumac leaves and then they began to throw the 
various parts of the bear away. The head they 
threw to the south, and there are the stars that lie 
together.* The backbone they threw to the east, 
and this is the cluster of stars that one sees early in 
a winter morning, and thus they did with all other 
parts of the bear. Wherever the parts were thrown, 
there was a cluster of stars. But no sooner was this 
done than the bear was on his feet and in flight, and 
so the hunters were soon in pursuit again. They 
followed through winter, spring, and summer, and 
in the fall they overtook him. There is a time in 
the fall when the sumac leaves are bright red, and 
that is the time that these celestial hunters each 
year overtake the bear. The drops of blood from 
the bear's meat fall on the sumac leaves and stain 
them red; and the blood also stains the leaves of 
other plants and trees. That is why things change 
their colors in the fall. The hunters and the bear 
can be seen at night by looking at the northern 

*This is what is popularly called the little dipper. 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 65 

sky — they and their little dog are pursuing the 
bear."* 

This fairy tale must have originated since the 
coming of Europeans, as the location of the Bear 
indicates that, through the Jesuits or educated per- 
sons among the traders, the author of the tale places 
the Bear where ancient astronomers put him. 

The winds of late autumn whistled in the maples, 
but the bark cabins, roofed with rush mats, were 
proof against all weather. All were now ready for 
sleep. The little ones first sought their blankets. 
The dogs, unconsciously fattening for the feast of 
welcome to the first visitor to come, were curled up 
by the fire. Wood for the morning was in readi- 
ness. Arranging the fire to keep the cabin warm 
during the night, the wife and mother was last to 
retire. Few were the cares. Faith in the warrior's 
bravery, and ability to provide from day to day, per- 
mitted all to sleep. The warrior's head lay easy, 
for he wore not the crown of wealth. No stocks 
were wavering in the balance; managing no corner 
in corn and pulling no political wires, he slept only 
to awaken with the rising sun. 

That the town was a metropolis is known by the 
fact that of the relics some were from distant 
regions. Tobacco pipes, cut from the red pipe- 
stones of Minnesota, have been found; arrow-heads 
of a variety of flint not known in the region are com- 
mon. The corn raised along the river bottom was 
traded to the prairie tribes who lived mainly by 

*Keen must have been the eyes of the author of this bit of 
Indian lore, for the little star at the break of the handle of the 
great dipper is hardly visible to the unassisted sight. 



66 LOST MARAMECH 

hunting. The traffic carried on by the French at 
Fort St. Louis was in part, no doubt, by water along 
Fox river. Early maps show the river to have but 
one rapid worth locating and that evidently near 
where Maramech is placed on later maps. Between 
Maramech and the Waukegan portage the river 
Pestekouy, now called Fox river, served as a water 
way for light canoes. Skins of the buffalo, the 
bear, and other fur-bearing animals were taken to 
the lake and thence to Montreal. From Maramech 
southward the traffic was mostly carried on by 
canoes hewn from logs; thus the "dugout," as well 
as the birch-bark canoe, on this stream showed the 
skill of their makers. 



CHAPTER IV 

The commerce between Maramech and the other 
Indian towns not on the Pestekouy was carried on 
over the trails. The alleged map of Marquette 
shows many places and things never seen by Joliet 
and him. In the map copied and published by 
Thevenot in 1681 (see page 27, of this volume), a 
trail was laid down from the Mississippi river, near 
Rock Island, to the great Indian town on the Illi- 
nois river. Another trail is laid along the Fox river 
of Wisconsin and the Wisconsin river, called Che- 
min cPAltic, meaning "route of going." The line 
from Rock Island to the Illinois river is lettered 
Chcmin de Reto?ir y meaning "route of return." This 
route of return passing, as in fact it did, through 
Maramech, has since been known as the Sauk 
and Fox Trail, so called because later passing 
through the great Sauk and Fox town, Sauke- 
nuk, at the mouth of the Rock river, and eastward 
near Wolf lake and the southern extremity of Lake 
Michigan, and on to Maiden in Canada, at the 
mouth of Detroit river, where the "British Father" 
supplied the wants of the Sac and Fox nations, 
among others; it was traveled by what was known 
as the "British Band" of Foxes, both before and 
after the war of 1812. This great trail was worn so 
deeply that, although the plow for a half century has 
turned the soil, it is not yet wholly obliterated. 
That trail connected Lake Michigan with the Mis- 

67 



68 LOST MARAMECH 

sissippi river at the point of nearest approach, and 
Maramech was as a half-way house. 

From the great Illinois town opposite Starved 
Rock, in La Salle county, along the north side of 
the river, ran a trail over one of the great prairies, 
five of which approach each other at Maramech. 
From where is now the busy city of Ottawa, along 
the west side of the river Pestekouy, another trail 
passed near or through Maramech, and then turned 
to the Miami town of Chicagou. From Maramech 
along the east side of the beautiful Pestekouy ran 
the trail that connected the various villages located 
along the river. 

In July, 1682, La Salle went part way on foot from 
Peoria Lake to Lake Michigan. He undoubtedly 
took the trail that passed through Maramech. The 
other towns along the river were seen by him, or at 
least were made known to him, for he soon passed 
on to Montreal and gave to Franquelin the infor- 
mation that enabled him to map in the section of 
country around Maramech. (Margry, Vol. I., p. 
569.) Henri de Tonty, the faithful lieutenant of La 
Salle, later in the same month passed by land from 
Fort St. Louis, on Starved Rock, to Chicagou. 
(Margry, Vol. L, p. 612.) A long day's journey 
took them to Maramech. In the autumn of 1687 
Joutel, Cavalier (La Salle's brother), and others 
reached Fort St. Louis on their weary journey from 
the fated colony in Texas, in haste to get to France 
to urge that aid be sent to the colony last estab- 
lished by La Salle. They struck out for the lake of 
the Illinois (Michigan), there to embark for Canada, 
in time to take the vessel bound for France. The 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 69 

journey was "painful and fruitless," for, having 
gone to the banks of the lake in very foul weather, 
after waiting there for five days for the sky to clear, 
they embarked, notwithstanding the storm, but 
were obliged to put to shore again at the place of 
embarkation. They returned, on foot, to Fort St. 
Louis on the seventh day of October. Twice, then, 
they passed over the trail between Fort : St. Louis 
and Chicagou, and undoubtedly through the village 
of Maramech. In December of the same year two 
Frenchmen arrived at Fort St. Louis and gave notice 
to Tonty that three canoes, laden with merchandise, 
powder, ball, and various other things, had arrived 
at Chicagou; that there being too little water in the 
Des Plaines river, and what there was being frozen, 
they could not come nearer. It thus became neces- 
sary to send^ carriers to bring the goods upon their 
backs. Tonty requested the chief of the Shawnees 
to furnish him with people for the purpose. That 
chief accordingly provided forty, men as well as 
women, who set out with some of the Frenchmen. 
The honesty of the Shawnees was the reason Tonty 
had for preferring them over the Illinois, who had 
the reputation of being thieves. Empty-handed the 
troop took the trail and spent the first night, it 
seems probable, at Maramech. Two more days of 
travel, of twenty-five miles each, brought them to 
Chicagou. Each heavily laden, the return journey 
was more slow, and at the end of about the third 
day the loads were laid aside at Maramech and 
the hospitality of the Miamis, then at peace with the 
Shawnees, was partaken of. Of the fatigue of the 
journey we are not told, but we have often expe- 



yo LOST MARAMECH 

rienced the winters of this region. The abundance 
of fuel made the nights endurable, and with the 
presence of the visitors the wigwams of the natives 
became scenes of festivities. The dance of wel- 
come, to the music of the flute, accompanied by- 
songs and folk-lore tales, made the night more a 
season of pleasure than of rest; old friendships were 
renewed and new acquaintances made. 

So important to the French was the region that a 
representative of the crown was kept at Maramech 
and in its vicinity in the interest of trade and to 
keep the tribes united against the Iroquois. The 
French believed that, should the western country 
become possessed by the latter tribe, the trade of 
the west, and largely that of the Great Lakes, would 
be diverted to the English. Of greatest service 
was Nicholas Perrot. Of him we read: 

"In addition to these officers" (referring to Tonty 
and others) "who have each their stations fixed, the 
man named Perrot is to occupy one in the imme- 
diate neighborhood of the Miamis, in order to exe- 
cute whatever will be ordered him. This place is 
called Malamet, and the great concourse of Indians 
who repair thither, among whom this man possesses 
a great amount of credit, induced the Count to 
select him to be stationed between the Miamis and 
other tribes who might receive advances from the 
English. "* 

The main body of the Miamis was on the river 

*A footnote found in the N. Y. Col. Docs., IX., 570, states 
that by Malamet the Kalamazoo river of Michigan is meant. 
The location of the "great village of Marameck," has not been 
known by historians. 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 71 

St. Joseph, where is now South Bend, Indiana. 
The "other tribes who might receive advances from 
the English" were the Foxes, Sacs, Mascoutins, 
and others of Wisconsin. The English had tried to 
reach them by way of the Straits and also by way of 
the Ohio. To have been between the Miamis and 
these tribes, it is seen, they could not have been on 
the Kalamazoo. 

On no map of the time is there laid down a large 
town on the Maramea (the Kalamazoo river of 
Michigan), and there is nothing to indicate that any- 
thing more was intended or attempted by travelers 
than to mark the location of a river, on their maps, 
and give its name. In what is quoted above we find 
the words, "This place is called Malamet. " I think 
the compiler of the document, to which he added 
the footnote, was mistaken, for a river cannot be 
referred to as a "place" nor as a "station." It 
is known that at this time the Miamis occupied a 
great area. La Salle collected many of them in 
1683 and he named some of the various branches of 
the tribe, particularly the Peanghichias (Pianke- 
shaws), Pepikokias, and Kilaticas. On Franquelin's 
map of 1684, m the "Colony du Sr. de La Salle," 
between the Pestekouy and the Illinois rivers, the 
Pepikokias are located. They were also a branch 
of the Miamis, Perrot tells us. (See map of 1684.) 

Can the Governor have meant a river when refer- 
ring to the "chiefs of the great village" of "Mara- 
mek" ? When speaking to the Miamis of the place 
he called "Malamet," did he also mean a river? 
He also speaks of "other" chiefs there. Now, there 
is no group of towns located on any of the early 



72 LOST MARAMECH 

maps on the Kalamazoo river of Michigan, but on 
nearly all, Maramech, on the Pcstekouy (the Fox 
river of Illinois), is laid down; and on that river is a 
group of towns. 

Beckwith, in his The Illinois and Indiana Indians, 
says that the Governor of New France "requested 
the Miamis of the Pepikokia band, who resided 
upon the Maramek (Kalamazoo river in Michigan) 
to remove and join their tribe located on the river 
St. Joseph of Lake Michigan." In the quotation 
last above given, it is noticed that the Governor 
wished them to be nearer to him; but the fact that 
any point on the Kalamazoo river of Michigan was 
as near the French seat of power as any point on 
the river St. Joseph shows that he had some more 
distant place in mind, and the fact that he sent 
Perrot to a place called "Malamet" betivecn the 
Miamis and the western tribes, and thus prevented 
the Iroquois from having communication with the 
western tribes, also shows that the place could not 
have been on the Kalamazoo river in Michigan, for 
there were no important towns of western tribes on 
or near the Kalamazoo; but on the other side of 
Lake Michigan were all of the tribes of northern 
Illinois and Wisconsin, including the Sacs, Foxes, 
Mascoutins, Kickapoos, and Pottawatomies. 

Maramech, on the Pestekouy river, was a center 
of population and, being between the Miamis of St. 
Joseph and the western tribes, who the Governor 
feared would be influenced by the Iroquois, it is 
clear that it was there that the Governor sent Perrot. 
The French trinkets, bullet-moulds, gun-flints, and 
finery in the graves on the hills of Maramech lead 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 



73 



to the belief that the village probably was something 
of a trading-post. Beckwith further states that 
"Nicholas Perrot had been commissioned to lead 
the Maramek bands to the river St. Joseph," and 
that "he would have been burned had it not been 
for the interference of the Foxes." Now, the 
Foxes were found all over the country west of Lake 
Michigan, from time to time, but their home was in 
the central part of Wisconsin, and their hunting- 
grounds extended far into the present state of Illi- 
nois; they often invaded the hunting-grounds of the 
Illinois tribes. 

A council was held with the western Indians, 
among whom were Miamis. In one of his addresses 
to this body, when brought to him, the Governor 
said: "As for you, Na-nan-gous-sis-ta and Ma-ci- 
ton-ga, Miamis of Maramek, you are the chiefs of 
the great village, and I believe that you have visited 
me only with the consent of all the other chiefs 
there. I will believe as you say, that you have no 
other will than mine. Perrot told you that you must 
remove your fires from Maramek and unite with the 
rest of the Miamis in a place where you could 
oppose the enemy, and make war on him. I think 
only of the repose of my children. ... I will not 
believe that the Miamis wish to obey me until they 
make altogether one and the same fire, either at the 
river St. Joseph or some other place adjoining." 
Any place on the Kalamazoo would have practically 
adjoined the river St. Joseph, and if Perrot was at 
the river Maramek of Michigan, he was out of the 
natural path of the Foxes; but if it was at Maramech 
on the Pestekouy, he was very near the Foxes' 



74 LOST MARAMECH 

hunting-grounds. It seems that Beckwith must 
have got his information from the New York Colonial 
Documents, where O'Callaghan makes the mistake, 
found in the footnote, by saying that the "Malamet" 
referred to was the Maramek river of Michigan.* 

On page 61, Vol. X., Wisconsin Historical Collec- 
tions, the same mistake is made, and it seems prob- 
able that Professor Butler, the writer of the article, 
also gathered his information from the New York 
Colofiial Docnme?its and located Maramech on the 
east coast of Lake Michigan, between the Black and 
Grand rivers. It seems to me a foregone conclusion 
that Perrot will be found to have been located at Mar- 
amech, the village of the maps, "the great village" 
of Maramech, of which I have written. 

In a report of 1694 and 1695, ^ ' s sa ^ tnat "Mes- 
si-ton-ga, " a "Miami of Maramek," in a speech 
delivered at the great conference, "complained that 
the Miamis of the river St. Joseph rescued by force 
from us and spared the lives of the Iroquois prison- 

*Charlevoix and his map of 1744 were the authorities most 
depended upon by historians for many years. His map shows 
fourteen rivers cutting the eastern shore of Lake Michigan, and 
but three the western. He did not visit the western shore, to 
be sure, but a score of earlier maps would have informed him 
fully in regard to the many rivers, towns, and trails long 
known. Charlevoix was a Jesuit, and he, like others of that 
order, ignored the discoveries made by those not in sympathy 
with the Jesuits. Had he consulted Franquelin's map of 
sixty years previous, he could have shown the "Colonie du Sr. 
de La Salle, ' ' including the ' ' great village of Maramech. ' ' But 
the discoveries of that region were made by La Salle, who hated 
the Jesuits, justly it seems, and by his companions who were 
ministered to only by Recolets, whom the Jesuits gave little 
credit 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 75 

ers we were bringing home." (A^. Y. CoL Doc, Vol. 
IX., p. 621.) If the Miamis of "Maramek" had 
been on the Kalamazoo river, they would never 
have passed by the Miamis of the village on the St. 
Joseph, for such a route would have been at least 
fifty miles longer than one leading direct from the 
Iroquois country to any point on the Kalamazoo. 
Again, if the Miamis of "Maramek" had been on 
the Kalamazoo, the Governor of France would have 
had little occasion to make such an effort as he did 
to unite them with the Miamis of St. Joseph, for 
the fifty miles, in that case, would have made the 
villages practically within hearing distance in case 
of war with the Iroquois. In a speech at the same 
conference, "Perrot presented, on the part of the 
Pepicoquis, who are also Miamis of Maramek, a 
robe," etc., thus associating these two branches as 
Franquelin's map places them. 

A veil of mystery long hung about Maramech 
Hill. Some, not conversant with the facts, thought 
it might have been here that Black Hawk, in 1832, 
called Shabbona and Waubansie, the Potawattomie 
chiefs, to a council; but this was guesswork, for all 
definite traditions touching this hill, if any there 
ever were, have been forgotten. 

Upon a September day, in 1874, with a friend, I 
climbed the hill to gain a view of the panorama 
spread out from its southern summit. My thoughts 
and what I said to this friend at this, his first visit, 
proved to be prophetic. I mentioned the many 
burial mounds on other hills and wondered that the 
so-called mound-builders had not chosen this beau- 
tiful spot as a last resting-place for their dead. 



76 LOST MARAMECH 

While scanning the surface, as often before, I 
noticed, for the first time, a depression and a ridge. 
The ridge and its ditch were easily traced, and, with 
the curved brow of the hill, they completed a circle 
enclosing about two acres. Pits also had been dug 
along the brow. Here had certainly been a defense, 
and a strategic point it was indeed. Where the 
ditch met the southern brow of the hill it continued 
slantwise down; this, I thought, must have been a 
covered way by which the water of the creek that, 
but a few years before had run near by, was reached. 
Indications led me to believe that the ridge had 
been palisaded. My eyes and thoughts wandered 
to and along the cool spring-born creek to the east 
and southeast, from which this hill gently rises; 
thence on to the river, whose waters, particularly in 
the summer time, are very warm and not well 
adapted to quenching thirst, and further on to 
Sylvan Spring, in the shade of the tall trees a little 
distance up the river. I said to my friend that 
trails must have crossed the river not far away, and 
others have followed the river's course. I also 
spoke to him of the attractions which this cool creek 
and the springs must have had to the multitudes 
who traversed the trails, and of the temptations to 
the weary coursers of the trails to stop for rest and 
refreshment. I went further and, pointing to a 
n< wly-plowed field, a quarter of a mile away, at the 
mouth of Big Rock creek, said that we should prob- 
ably find fragments of pottery and other evidences 
of a prehistoric occupation. We passed to the fields 
with hopes of finding proof of the existence of a 
village, if one had ever existed there and, while 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO yy 

mounting a fence to step into the field, a dozen 
fragments met my sight in a little gully, where the 
handiwork of some fair potter of the forest had gone 
to pieces. For several years since, my spare 
moments have been spent in walking over the 
site of this ancient village. I defined its boundaries 
well, but nothing of its people could be learned 
until old maps had been consulted. 



CHAPTER V 

THE FOX TRIBE* 




.jtrmcf c&s cutztpamzs ascites rcnards 
Totem of the Foxes, Drawn on a Deerskin. 

*The Fox tribe called themselves Mesh-kwa-ki-ha-gi. It is 
thought by Mr. William Jones, a descendant of that tribe, edu- 
cated at Harvard, that when met by the Frenchmen and asked 
who they were, they replied: "We are Wa-go-sha-hugi, " 
meaning to say, ' 'We are of the Fox clan." Nearly all writers 
tell us that Watagamie is the Algonquin name of the fox, but 
that word may be the name of the fox in some other of the 
native languages and given to the Foxes by another tribe. 

79 



80 LOST MARAMECH 

Somewhere south of Lake St. John, in which 
heads the Saguenay river, a stream in places serene 
and shadowed by cliffs which are studded by 
cedar and pine trees, its depths as blue as the sky, 
there, in a wilderness rich in all its primitive 
charms, the Fox tribe was first heard of by the 
French explorers. For our rivers, our mountains 
and lakes, the native tribes made choice of names 
significant of some prominent characteristic. It is 
probable that no braver tribe ever lived on our con- 
tinent and that no wilder region is known than that 
from which came the nation called by neighboring 
natives Musquakees — people of the red earth or 
banks. What influence this wild region had upon 
them, we cannot tell. We cannot, with certainty, 
attribute their dispositions, most ferocious, to their 
having been nurtured in a cradle where nature is 
least tame. 

As every nation, from time immemorial, has 
placed upon its banner an emblem, so the wild 
tribes of America each chose a totem by which to be 
recognized. The British lion, the American eagle, 
and the lily of France, relics of barbarism, have no 
more significance than the fox painted upon the 
wigwams of the Musquakees. When the French 
explorers first knew this tribe, they saw the picture 
of a fox crudely painted upon the shields and wig- 
wams, and at once called them the Renards; but the 
Algonquin name of the fox was Watagamie, and 
hence the neighboring tribes so called these people; 
sometimes, at a later period, however, they were 
often called Musquaukees. In the French records 
these names were often used indiscriminately. 





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Pu-ci-ti-nig-wa, his counselors and the interpreter, Fox Reservation, Tama, Iowa. 
[Photo by Moore, Toledo, Ioica.) 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 81 

When Canada and the west came into the posses- 
sion of the English, the latter called these people 
the Foxes. 

Why they left the wilds north of Montreal, we are 
not told. Later, we know, they were driven from 
pillar to post by angered neighbors, and we natu- 
rally concluded that they may never have been con- 
genial. The Algonquin stock, of which they were 
a branch, extended from Cape Race to the Rocky 
Mountains, both sides of the St. Lawrence and the 
Great Lakes, and down the Atlantic coast. The 
Miamis, Sacs, Foxes, Kickapoos and, as well, 
the Illinois, of whom I shall also say much, spoke 
the Algonquin language; but among the tribes there 
existed differences of dialect very noticeable. It 
will not profit us to waste printer's ink in a discus- 
sion of the origin of the American Indians. Whether 
this continent was peopled from Asia or Asia from 
this continent we may well leave to ethnologists. 
That communication by the way of Behring's strait 
has been constant, since the close of the Glacial 
Epoch, is as certain as that the Esquimau paddles 
his kayak hundreds of miles, sometimes far beyond 
the sight of land. About midway in Behring's 
strait, which is only thirty-six miles wide, with Asia 
and America both in sight on any fogless day, one 
standing on the Diomede islands may see that inter- 
course between the two continents has not been in 
the least difficult. The babel of languages found in 
America is only accounted for by the supposition of 
an immense period of time and isolation of the 
various tribes, from time to time. 

Our people having the fox as their totem seem to 



82 LOST MARAMECH 

have been mentioned in the Jesuit Relations of 1640. 
North and west of Montreal, between lakes Nipis- 
sing and St. John, the Ouachegami were said to be 
located; also were there known the Kristinon and 
other Algonquin tribes. Each of the explorers and 
missionaries made the best effort possible to him in 
writing these names, and we find the name of a 
tribe spelled a dozen ways. That the "Ouachegami" 
tribe was the "Outagamie" (Watagamie), seems 
probable. As in the French language the vowel 
sound before a vowel represented by our w has no 
single symbol, we find in its stead 011, and hence we 
conclude that Ouachegami, as there given, and 
later Watagamie, as often spelled, no doubt refer to 
the same tribe. 

The name "Watagamie," the Algonquin word for 
fox, it is said, was chosen by this tribe, and the fox 
was made its totem; but, if traditions be depended 
upon, it seems quite likely that the name Musquaukee 
was given to a branch of the tribe, by its neighbors, 
after it had passed around the straits and reached 
the western shores of Lake Michigan, near Green 
Bay. By some it is thought that they bore the 
name Musquaukee while yet in Canada, north of 
Montreal. The legend of the Red Banks tends to 
lead us to a contrary belief, for the word Musquaukee 
means "red banks," or "red earth," from 7)ioskii<ah, 
red, and afci, banks, or earth. In Vol. II. of the 
Wisconsin Historical Collections is found the legend of 
the Red Banks, as told by an Indian woman, then 
living near the Red river, on the eastern shore of 
Green Bay, by name O-Kee-Wah, or "The Sea." 
The story had been told her in childhood. She had 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 83 

dreamed it over, and her imagination led her, no 
doubt, to magnify the deeds, particularly of the 
people from whom she believed herself to have 
descended. The fleet of canoes was magnified; 
the number of warriors was greatly multiplied, and 
the number of deaths probably greater than the actual 
number engaged. The high lands between Lake 
Michigan and Green Bay present bold cliffs of red 
clay. They are called the Red Banks. North of 
the present city of Green Bay, some twelve miles, 
an ancient earthwork may be traced, evidently a 
defense. The embankment originally high, was 
probably supplemented by palisades as many simi- 
lar defenses were of which we have accounts. A 
ditch is outside quite likely, as it was the cus- 
tom of the Indians to plant timbers vertically in 
the ground and heap the earth against them, thus 
leaving a depression on one or both sides. Evi- 
dences of the existence of three bastions may yet be 
seen. The embankment formed three sides, and a 
precipice, about a hundred feet in height, the 
fourth. It was the custom of the early tribes to 
select, for their defense, places that Nature had best 
adapted for the purpose. When I shall have told 
the story of Maramech Hill, it will be seen that 
there a similar choice was made. In each case 
water was reached by a covered passageway leading 
to the shore. Steps may have been cut in the clay, 
as was also the probable case at Maramech; a cover- 
ing of branches of trees hid those descending for 
water. Palisaded walls about the center of the 
works at the Red Banks served a purpose that we 
can only guess — quite likely some structures for 



84 LOST MARAMECH 

housing the aged and invalids. The promontory, 
north of this enclosure, may have served as a look- 
out, or may have been the place of burial of some 
chief of an older people, the only knowledge of 
whom is reached by a study of the great mounds of 
the Mississippi and Ohio valleys. In the far west 
were tribes that lived on cliffs and mesas, so nearly 
inaccessible as to render their places of abode prac- 
tically impregnable. Their fields were in the valleys 
below. It seems to me probable that the defenses 
at the Red Banks were likewise the actual village 
site of the Musquaukee branch of the Foxes, and 
that the hundred or more acres southward were the 
fields in which, in times of peace, they raised their 
corn, watermelons, beans, and a variety of other 
grains and vegetables, long cultivated by the 
natives, regarding which we have been only partially 
informed. The corn ridges are said to have been 
visible more than a hundred years later than the last 
occupation. 

Listen to the romantic account of the tragedy of 
the Red Banks: We seem to see O-Kee-Wah sitting 
at the wigwam fire, with the animation of childhood 
incident to her advanced years, telling the story as 
she heard it. The wigwam fire, always small to 
avoid filling the cabin with smoke, burning spas- 
modically, lights up and, in turn, hides the wrinkles 
that tell of age. Her people, she does not tell us 
how many generations back, were with the attack- 
ing party. She seems to feel what these warriors 
felt during the struggle, the scenes of which she is 
painting in words. She tells us that the Sacs then 
lived with the Foxes at the Red Banks. How long 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 85 

they lived there she does not know, but they were a 
people much dreaded. Their fields were large and 
fish were abundant in the bay. Councils were held 
among the neighboring tribes, and they united with 
the Menominees, who lived on the western shore, to 
make an effort to rid the country of the people of 
the Red Banks. The Chippewas, Pottawatomies, 
Ottawas, and others formed the attacking party. 
O-Kee-Wah tells us of the immense number of 
canoes filled with the bravest warriors, who landed 
along the beach for a great distance and moved 
against the Red Banks in the night. It was before 
the time of firearms or steel arrow-points, and hence 
the old method of Indian warfare was followed. 
Canoe after canoe moved to the foot of the steep 
bluff with braves, while other warriors surrounded 
the defenses on the land side. 

The besiegers, at night, sought their positions 
undiscovered, except by a woman whose parents 
lived within the fort. Unwillingly she had been 
made the wife of one of the Sacs, not far away; and 
as she ran from his wigwam to her old home she 
passed the lines of the attacking party. Rushing 
into the fort, she awakened her family and ex- 
claimed, as was the custom in cases of great danger, 
"We are all dead!" Her story was not believed 
until, at dawn, the hour usually chosen by the Indian 
for attack, the full truth was made known. The 
siege lasted many days. Both besiegers and the 
besieged fought bravely. O-Kee-Wah tells us that 
the blood was ankle deep within the walls; that the 
water supply was cut off by the warriors in the 
canoes; that every effort was made to obtain it by 



86 LOST MARAMECH 

stealth at night, and by dropping blankets, by 
means of cords, in the daytime. k The taunts uttered 
and the thirst of the braves did prompt some to go 
down, where they met defeat and death at the hands 
of the allies. She tells us of the heat of the burning 
sun and the dreadful sufferings from thirst; she tells 
of the partial relief by rainfall, and we seem to feel 
the pangs they felt while watching the beautiful 
waters of the bay lapping the shores in poetic 
rhythm — so near and yet so far. She tells us of a 
dream and of the words of the dreamer. "Listen!" 
he says. "Last night there stood by me the form 
of a young man, clothed in white, who said, 'I was 
alive once, was dead, and now live forever; only 
trust in me, now and always, and I will deliver you; 
to-night at midnight I will cast a deep sleep upon 
your enemies. Then go forth silently.' " 

Dreams, mere vagaries as we know them, have 
often been considered by the savages either as 
admonitions or commands from the Great Spirit or, 
at least, warnings from the Spirit Land. They 
served as an incentive to action, usually greater 
than the commands of the chief. They were the 
rule of life. Each young warrior, when nearing the 
age of manhood, sought solitude and fasted for 
many days, hunger often driving him near to mad- 
ness, and in his troubled sleep to dreams of war and 
of the chase. Whatever the material object he 
dreamed of, that thing he made his mascot. What- 
ever that dream was, it influenced him through life. 

"The dream of the young man of the legend," 
she continues, "was believed to be a direct revela- 
tion from the Great Spirit and, thus encouraged, all 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 87 

of the besieged who attempted to make their escape, 
while the besiegers were wrapped in deep slumber, 
succeeded. A few doubting ones who remained 
were massacred when came the following dawn." 

That the Sac (the "Osaukies"), the people of the 
yellow earth, were probably from the same region as 
the Foxes is made evident by Black Hawk, who 
tells us that his great-grandfather, Thunder, a Sac, 
lived in the region north of Montreal. We are told 
that the Foxes were the first to move westward and 
that they established themselves near Green Bay, 
Wis. Whether they fled from belligerent neighbors 
or were first to believe that to remain in the vicinity 
of the Iroquois, who were occupying what is now 
New York, meant extinction, we are not informed. 
Their brothers, the Sacs, were found, soon after the 
Foxes are supposed to have come west, at Saginaw 
Bay, which took its present name from Saukenong, 
the town of the Sacs. "The Sacs, although few in 
number, are divided into two factions, of which one 
is attached to the Watagamies, and the other to the 
Pottawatomies," says Charlevoix (V., 432). 

Fragmentary records speak of Sacs sometimes 
being allied with the Foxes, and often against them. 
It is probable that it was the faction of the Sacs 
which was friendly to the Pottawatomies that many 
times turned its hand against the Foxes; but it is 
not credible that either faction was so fickle as to be 
one day with the Foxes and the next against them. 
The Foxes would have put an end to such fickleness 
by effectual means, or have fled the country. 

Some time after the Foxes had reached northern 
Wisconsin, possibly before they were defeated at 



88 LOST MARAMECH 

the Red Banks, they made common cause with the 
Sioux against the Ojibwas (Chippewas). At a cer- 
tain time a large party of Foxes floated down the 
Ontonagon river in their small canoes. They 
landed in the night on the island of the Ojibwas, 
and early in the morning captured four women who 
had gone to gather wood. The revenge of the 
Ojibwas was quick and complete. As the Foxes, 
by their exultant yells, made known to their enemies 
the course of their flight, hundreds of Ojibwa war- 
riors hastily embarked in their large lake canoes in 
pursuit. A dense fog covered the lake and, de- 
pending upon this for eventual escape and confident 
in their numbers, the Foxes, intoxicated with their 
success, kept up a continual yelling and singing. 
The Ojibwas, thus guided, silently and swiftly pur- 
sued them, purposely keeping in their wake until 
they arrived opposite a steep, rocky coast a mile 
above the mouth of Montreal river and eight leagues 
from the "Point," where they fell on the Foxes 
with great fury. Fighting in large canoes which sat 
firmly in the water, they almost destroyed the entire 
party of four hundred Foxes who, being in small 
canoes, were upset and most of them drowned or 
dispatched, in the water. 

Soon after the above occurrence, the tradition 
informs us, a party of Foxes fell on a camp of 
Ojibwas while the men were out hunting. They 
captured two youths, having driven them into boggy 
ground. One of the prisoners was the son of the 
principal Ojibwa chief. The father of the young 
man was one of the hunting party. Upon his return 
home he heard the heart-rending news and, knowing 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 89 

that the boy's fate would be the stake, he imme- 
diately pursued the retreating captors alone. Fol- 
lowing in their trail he arrived at one of their 
principal villages, where the Foxes were in the act 
of burning their captive. He stepped boldly into 
the midst of his enemies and requested that he be 
allowed to take the place of his son. "My son," 
said he, "has seen but a few winters; his feet have 
never trod the warpath; but the hairs of my head 
are white, and over the graves of my relatives I 
have hung many scalps that I have taken from the 
heads of your warriors." The old war chief's offer 
was accepted by the Foxes; his son was released 
and himself burned at the stake with all the tortures 
that savage ingenuity could invent. 

The story of Damon and Pythias has often been 
acted among the savage tribes of America, and the 
above instance is only one of the hundred that have 
become matters of history. 

The son returned to his people and was afterward 
known by the name of his father. This act was ter- 
ribly avenged by the Ojibvva tribe. A large party 
was collected and sent against the towns of the 
Foxes, and it did not return until after six villages 
of their enemy had been laid waste and the inhabit- 
ants killed or driven away. The war between these 
tribes was bloody in the extreme, and was carried 
on with all the cruelty of savage warfare. Captives 
were taken and burned. The practice of torturing 
an enemy existed among the savages before the 
coming of the white man, and long before the Foxes 
left the vicinity of Montreal. Notwithstanding 
this, a tradition exists among the Ojibwas which 



9 o LOST MARAMECH 

purports to be an account of the origin of the cus- 
tom. (Schoolcraft, Part II., 142.) 

"A noted warrior of the Ojibwas was once taken 
captive by his nephew, the son of his sister, who 
had been captured and married among the Foxes. 
The nephew, to show the Foxes, of whom he had 
practically become one, his utter disregard for any 
relationship with the Ojibwas, planted a stake in 
the ground and, taking his captive by the arm, tied 
his feet and hands to the stake, remarking that he 
wished to warm his uncle by a good fire. He then 
built a large fire, and after roasting one side of his 
captive, turned the other to the blaze. When the 
naked body had been burnt to a blister he untied his 
uncle and told him to go home and tell the Ojibwas 
how the Foxes treat their uncles. The uncle recov- 
ered from his fire wounds, and in a future excursion 
succeeded in capturing his nephew. He took him 
to the village of the Ojibwas where he tied him to a 
stake and, taking a fresh elkskin on which a layer 
of fat had purposely been left, he placed it over a 
fire until it became an immense blaze; then throw- 
ing it over the shoulders of his nephew, remarked, 
"Nephew, when I was in your village you warmed 
me before a good fire; now I, in turn, give you a 
mantle to warm yourself." The elkskin, covered 
with fat, burned furiously, wrapping the body of his 
nephew in a dreadful mantle that soon consumed 
him. This act, the tradition states, was repeated 
by the Foxes, and death by fire soon became cus- 
tomary with both tribes. 

We are told by Schoolcraft, for whose statements 
we must sometimes make allowances, that the 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO qi 

Foxes were, in a measure, allied with the Iroquois 
in the wars that annihilated the Hurons. He would 
have us believe that they formed !a part of the 
so-called "Neutral Nation," north of lakes Erie and 
Ontario, so often referred to by the priests and 
explorers. It is not easy to believe that this tribe 
could remain neutral and thus win that name, if 
there was a war going on within a few hundred miles 
of them. However, when first we learn of the 
Foxes with absolute certainty, they were near the 
head of Green Bay, where they were making history 
for themselves with a vengeance. Around Green 
Bay many small nations had already gathered for 
mutual protection against the Iroquois. Father 
Allouez was one of the first to write them up; but 
we must bear in mind, when reading what he says, 
that these tribes had for some time been subjected 
to the contaminating influence of the fur-traders 
who were, in fact, the true discoverers of all por- 
tions of the west, rather than the Jesuit missionaries 
who followed them and claimed all the honors. 

As in the case of Joliet and Marquette, the priests 
were mainly drones of the various expeditions; they 
usually had leisure to write while the industrious 
were at the oars. The hardships they tell of were 
likely overdrawn. 

Of the Sacs, with whom the Foxes were often 
allied, the father says: "As for the Ousakes, they, 
above all others, can be called savages; they are 
very numerous, but wandering and scattered in the 
forests without any fixed abode." 

In an account, Father Allouez, referring to the 
Foxes, says: "These savages withdrew to these 



92 LOST MARAMECH 

regions to escape the persecutions of the Iroquois, 
and settled in an excellent country, the soil of which 
is black, thus yielding them Indian corn in abun- 
dance. They live by the chase during the winter, 
returning to their cabins toward its close and live 
there on Indian corn hidden the previous autumn; 
they season it with fish. In the midst of their 
clearing they have a fort, where their cabins of 
heavy bark are well suited for resisting all sorts 
of attacks. On their journeys they make cabins of 
mats. They are at war with the Sioux, their neigh- 
bors. Canoes are not used by them, and for that 
reason they do not make war on the Iroquois, 
although they have been killed by them. They are 
held in low estimation, and are considered by other 
nations as stingy, avaricious, choleric, and quarrel- 
some. They have had a very poor opinion of the 
French ever since two traders for beaver skins 
appeared among them. If these men had behaved 
as they ought, I would have less trouble in giving 
these poor people other ideas of the whole French 
nation, which they are beginning to esteem since I 
explained to them the principle and motive that 
brought me to their country." 

This is one of the many sighs found in the Jesuit 
Relations — sighs over the French immoralities, often 
uttered between words of praise of the honor and 
uprightness of the natives. An investigation made 
by Schoolcraft shows that the Foxes were a very 
large-brained people. That they were brainy is 
shown by their activity and success where the odds 
were not too greatly against them. 

Judge James Hall {History of N. A. India?is) char- 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 93 

acterizes the Foxes as "always restless and discon- 
tented; Ishmaelites of the lakes; their hand against 
every man and every man's hand against them." 
If not thieves by nature, they soon became such by 
schooling, and the traders were excellent teachers. 




Fair specimens. Tama Reservation. 



CHAPTER VI 

Tradition must be depended upon until the time 
that the Foxes were found by the first French 
explorers who left definite accounts of them. They 
were located near Green Bay. Whether Nicolet, 
who reached Green Bay in 1639,* found any of them 
there we are not told. The traders who dealt with 
these tribes made few records, and it was left to the 
Jesuit Fathers who, as was their custom, followed 
the traders into the nooks and corners of the western 
country, and were thus enabled to prepare the rec- 
ords now known as the Jesuit Relations, and to tell us 
of the natives they met. 

Near the Foxes were the less warlike Menominees 
and the Kickapoos and Mascoutins. The last-men- 
tioned tribes are said by some to have been related 
to the Foxes, politically or otherwise, which, how- 
ever, could only have been through intermarriages 
and treaties. The Kickapoos seem to have been 
allies of the Sacs and Foxes in many of the wars 
against the French, English, and Americans; and 
one or both of these tribes, as well as the Foxes, 
gained the enmity of the French to such an extent 
that, at an early date, their destruction was deter- 
mined upon. (Perrot's Manuscripts.) 

The result of all the struggles between them and 
the French shows that the determinati on of the 

*Davidson, in his Unnamed Wisconsin, says 1634. 
95 



96 LOST MARAMECH 

French to destroy that tribe was followed by years 
of indifferent success. 

That the Iroquois had anything to do with the 
driving of the Foxes from the vicinity of the St. 
Lawrence river we are not certain; but early as 1661 
the Iroquois rounded the head of Lake Michigan, 
on their way to attack the Foxes, with what result 
we are not told, unless La Hontan's story, soon to 
follow, refers to it; but we are informed that they 
killed a number of warriors of the Illinois tribes, 
which act kindled the long war between the Iroquois 
and the last named. This predatory warfare prac- 
tically resulted in the breaking up of the Illinois 
Confederacy in twenty years. The story of the 
early defeats of the various nations that formed the 
prey of the Iroquois on the one hand and of the 
Sioux on the other, was first told to the French 
explorers at the Falls of St. Mary in 1665, where a 
grand council of the many tribes inhabiting the 
region west of Lake Michigan was held. 

The Pottawatomies, from the south of Green Bay, 
Sacs and Foxes from the west, Hurons from the 
north of the lakes, and the Illinois from far south of 
the Pottawatomies, all told of their ancient glory 
and diminished numbers. In addition to their sad 
stories, they told of the vast prairies, of the abun- 
dance of game, the fertility of the soil, and the mild- 
ness of the climate of their possessions. Father 
Allouez was at this council and wrote much regard- 
ing it. 

Following the traders, the Jesuits founded mis- 
sions at the villages of many of the tribes, and finally 
one among the Foxes and the Sacs. These allied 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 97 

nations mingled with the various other tribes above 
mentioned, most of whom spoke dialects of the Al- 
gonquin language. The differences in speech were 
largely in the matter of pronunciation, which made 
it somewhat difficult, even for the various Algonquin 
tribes, to communicate with each other, and still 
more difficult on the part of the French to make 
themselves understood. 

Father Allouez prided himself that, after a little 
labor, he could make them understand sufficiently 
to enable him to instruct them in matters he 
believed necessary to their salvation. He says: 
"The country of the Outagami [Foxes] is to the 
side of the south, towards the lake of the Illinois. 
They are a numerous people and have about one 
thousand men carrying arms; that is, hunters and 
warriors. They have fields of Indian corn, and 
dwell in a country having many advantages as far 
as hunting of the wild cat, deer, buffalo, and beaver 
is concerned. They do not use the canoe, and ordi- 
narily make their journeys by land, carrying on their 
shoulders their packages and game.* These people 
are abandoned to idolatry as much as are the other 
nations. One day, being in the cabin of an Outa- 
gami, I found his father and mother dangerously ill; 
and having said that bleeding would cure them, the 
poor man took some tobacco, reduced it to a pow- 
der, and threw it on my gown on all sides, saying to 
me, 'Thou art a spirit; proceed to render health to 
these sick people; I offer to thee this tobacco in 
sacrifice.' 'What dost thou, my brother?' I said to 
him, T am nothing. It is H e who made all that is 

* This will be found to be a mistake. 



98 LOST MARAMECH 

my Master, and I am only His servant.' 'Well,' he 
replied, at the same time scattering some tobacco 
on the ground and raising high his eyes, 'this is then 
of Thee, who hast created the heavens and earth, 
that I offer this tobacco; give health to the sick.' 
These people are not alienated from the recognition 
of the Creator of the world, for they have already 
said to me what I have reported, that they recog- 
nize, in their country, the Great Spirit who has made 
the heavens and the earth, and who dwells towards 
the country of the French. It is said of them and 
the Ousaki [Sacs] that when they find a man wan- 
dering, and it is to their advantage, they kill him if 
he is a Frenchman, for they cannot bear a man with 
whiskers. This sort of cruelty renders them less 
disposed to the Gospel than the Pouteouatami [Pot- 
tawatomies]. I have not, however, omitted to pro- 
claim the Gospel to nearly six score of persons who 
have passed the summer here, but I have not found 
among them any sufficiently well disposed to receive 
baptism. I conferred it, nevertheless, on five sick 
children, who then recovered their health. 

"As for the Ousaki, one can well call them sav- 
ages above all others. They are in great numbers, 
but are vagrants, wandering in the forest without 
any permanent abode. I have seen nearly two hun- 
dred and have proclaimed the faith and have bap- 
tized eighteen of their children." 

Father Allouez speaks often of the Foxes. In 
the Jesuit Relations of 1669-71, we read: "On the 
sixteenth of April I embarked to go and begin 
the mission to the Outagamis [Foxes], a people of 
considerable note in all these regions. We slept at 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 



99 



the head of the bay, at the mouth of the river des 
Puaus, which we have named for Saint Francis. On 
our way we saw clouds of swans, bustards, and 
ducks. The savages set snares for them at the head 
of the bay, where they catch as many as fifty in one 
night; this game seeking in the autumn the wild 
oats that the wind has shaken off in the month of 
September. On the 17th we ascended the river 
Saint Francis, which is two and sometimes three 
arpents wide. After proceeding four leagues we 
found the village of the savages called Sacs, whose 
people were beginning a work that well deserves to 
have its place here. From one bank of the river to 
the other they make a barricade by driving down 
large stakes in two brasses of water [two arms 
length], so that there is a kind of bridge over the 
stream for the fishermen who, with the help of a 
small weir, easily catch the sturgeon and every other 
kind of fish which this dam stops, although the 
water does not cease to flow between the stakes. 
They call this contrivance jnitikikan, and it serves 
them during the spring and a part of the summer. 

"On the 20th, which was Sunday, I said mass, 
after voyaging five or six leagues on the lake, and 
we came to a river flowing from a lake bordered 
with wild oats. This stream we followed and found 
at the end of it the river that leads to the Outaga- 
mies in one direction, and to the Maskoutens in the 
other. We entered this first stream, which flows 
from a lake; there we saw some turkeys perched on 
a tree, male and female, resembling perfectly those 
of France — the same size, the same color, and the 
same cry. Bustards, ducks, swans, and geese are in 

l.ofC. 



ioo LOST MARAMECH 

great numbers on all the lakes and rivers; the wild 
oats, on which they live, attracting them thither. 
There are large and small stags, bears, and beavers 
in great abundance. 

"On the 24th, after turning and doubling several 
times in various lakes and rivers, we arrived at the 
village of the Outagamies. The people came in 
crowds to meet us, in order to see, as they said, the 
Manitou who was coming to their country. They 
accompanied us with respect as far as the door of 
the cabin which we were made to enter. This nation 
is renowned for being populous, the men who bear 
arms numbering more than four hundred; while the 
number of women and children there is the greater 
on account of the polygamy which prevails among 
them, each man having commonly four wives, some 
having six, and others as many as ten. Six large 
cabins of these poor people were put to rout this 
month of March by eighteen Iroquois from Ison- 
nontouan, who, under the guidance of two fugitive 
Iroquois slaves of the Pottawatomies, made an 
onslaught and killed all the people except thirty 
women whom they led away as captives. As the 
men were away hunting, they met with but little 
resistance, there being only six warriors left in the 
cabins, besides the women and children, who num- 
bered a hundred or thereabouts. This carnage was 
committed two days' journey from the place of our 
winterquarters at the foot of the lake of the Illi- 
nois, which is called Machikiganing [Michigan], 
On the 25th I called together the Elders in a large 
assembly with the purpose of giving them the first 
acquaintance with our mysteries. I began with the 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 101 

invocation of the Holy Ghost, to whom we had 
made our appeal during our journey, to pray for His 
blessing upon our labors. Then when I had, by 
means of a present which I thought I ought to make 
them, dried the tears which the remembrance of the 
massacre perpetrated by the Iroquois caused them 
to shed, I explained to them the principal articles 
of our faith and made known the law and the com- 
mandments of God, the rewards promised to those 
that shall obey Him and the punishments prepared 
by Him for those who shall not obey Him. They 
understood me without my having need of an inter- 
preter; but, oh my God, what ideas and ways con- 
trary to the Gospel these poor people have and how 
much need there is of very powerful grace to con- 
quer their hearts; they accept the unity and sover- 
eignty of God, Creator of all things; for the rest 
they have not a word to say. An Outagami told me 
in private that his ancestor had come from Heaven 
and that he had preached the unity and sovereignty 
of God who had made all the other gods; that he 
had assured them that he would go to Heaven after 
his death, where he should die no more; and that 
his body would not be found in the place where it 
had been buried, which was verified, said this Outa- 
gami, the body being no longer found where it had 
been put. 

"These are fables which God uses for their salva- 
tion, for after the man had finished telling me every- 
thing, he added that he was dismissing all of his 
wives, retaining only one, whom he would not 
change, and that he was resolved to obey me and pray 
to God. I hope that God will show him mercy. 



102 LOST MARAMECH 

"I tried to visit the people in their cabins, which 
are in very great numbers, sometimes for the pur- 
pose of instructing them in private, and at other 
times to go and carry them some little medicine, or 
rather something sweet for their little sick children, 
whom I was baptizing. Toward the end they 
brought them to me voluntarily in the cabin where 
I lodged. I spoke their language in the assurance 
they gave me that they understood me; it is the 
same as that of the Sacs; but, alas, what difficulty 
they have in apprehending a law that is so opposed 
to all their customs. . . . 

"On the 26th the Elders came into the cabin 
where I was lodging to hold counsel there. The 
assembly having been convened, the captain, after 
laying at my feet a present of some skins, ha- 
rangued in the following terms: 'We thank thee for 
having come to visit and console us in our afflic- 
tion; and we are the more obliged to thee, inasmuch 
as no one has hitherto shown us that kindness.' 
They added that they had nothing further to say to 
me except that they were too dispirited to speak 
to me, being all occupied in mourning their dead. 

' 'Do thou, black gown, who art not dispirited 
and who takest pity on people, take pity on us as 
thou shalt deem best. Thou couldst dwell here near 
us to protect us from our enemies, and to teach us 
to speak to the great Manitou, the same as thou 
teachest the savages of the Sault. Thou couldest 
cause to be restored to us our wives who were led 
away prisoners. Thou couldst stay the arms of the 
Iroquois, and speak to them of peace in our behalf 
for the future. I have not the intelligence to say 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 



103 



anything to thee; take pity on us in the way thou 
shalt judge most fitting. When thou seest the 
Iroquois, tell them that they have taken me for 
some one else. I do not make war on them. I 
have not eaten [killed] their people; but my neigh- 
bors took them prisoners and made me a present of 
them; I adopted them, and they are living here as 
my children.' 

"This speech has nothing of the barbarian in it. 
I told them that, in the treaty of peace which the 
French had made with the Iroquois, no mention had 
been made of them; that no Frenchmen had then 
been here and that they were not known; that, as to 
other matters, I much approved what their captain 
had said; that I would not forget it, and that in the 
following autumn I would render them an answer. 
Meanwhile, I told them to fortify themselves in 
their resolution to obey the true God, who alone 
could procure them what they asked for and infi- 
nitely more. 

"In the evening four savages of the nation of the 
Miamis arrived from a place two days' journey 
hence, bringing three Iroquois scalps and a half- 
smoked arm, to console the relatives of those whom 
the Iroquois had killed a short time before. On the 
27th we took our departure, commending to the 
good angels the seeds sown in the hearts of these 
poor people, who listened to me with respect and 
attention. There is a glorious and rich harvest for 
a zealous and patient missionary. We named this 
mission after Saint Mark, because on his day the 
Faith was proclaimed there." 

Father Allouez later reports to his superiors con- 



104 LOST MARAMECH 

cerning these people and the mission of St. Mark, at 
the village of the Outagami. This mission was the 
first ever established among the Foxes. He says of 
these people: "They are haughty because of their 
numbers, their cabins being reckoned as more than 
two hundred, while in each there are five or six and 
even as many as ten families." Reckoning each 
family at five persons, this would give them more 
than six thousand in a village. He says: "Several 
other nations swell the size of this one, or rather 
make a Babylon of it by the disorder which reigns 
there." He regarded them "light of faith," having 
yet made no impression on them. "They had 
formed a plan," he further says, "as they are proud 
and arrogant, to take vengeance by killing some 
Frenchmen for the ill-treatment they had them- 
selves received during the past summer." 

How mistaken was the father, for the light of 
faith has not yet made sufficient impression upon 
the world to suppress the spirit of vengeance! At 
the present time our laws are not a far departure 
from those of Moses, and when the spirit of revenge 
is not suppressed the mob cries out, "An eye for an 
eye, and a tooth for a tooth." 

The father tells us that the young French explor- 
ers did not dare to set foot there for fear of punish- 
ment which this father and others, in their reports, 
showed that they so often deserved; but the vain- 
glorious father informed his superiors that all this 
did not frighten him. He counted himself happy 
to expose his life to evident clanger in order to bear 
the Gospel to these poor barbarians, as he had done 
to all the people of this region. This father was 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 105 

modest in comparison with some of those who wrote 
the reports known as the Relations. As we look 
over the field, the hundred years in which they 
labored in the wilds of America, we find that they 
were quite safe. A few were killed, and some 
burned at the stake; but all things considered, they 
were far from danger compared with the coureurs du 
dots, as the clandestine traders were called. Going 
over their experiences, as we now find them in cold 
type, one impression is likely to strike the reader — 
they prated of their deeds and of desiring to become 
martyrs, but they showed the usual amount of pru- 
dence in their efforts to save their lives; they 
reported their sufferings, due to ill-treatment and 
hardships, and spoke of their successes in the wars 
with the jugglers (medicine men) and Satan. They 
tell us, by the way, of a custom among the savages 
that their own boastings remind us of. 

When war's excitement sways the savages a chief 
or leading warrior wishing to recruit a force to go 
against an enemy, plants a post in the midst of the 
village. Around this the warriors gather, and each, 
in turn, recites the brave deeds of his life. He 
throws his hatchet so that its edge strikes the post 
and stops there, or brandishing it, he strikes the 
blow as upon the head of an enemy, dances around 
the post and boasts of the number of scalps he has 
taken, and of the prisoners he has captured. In 
pantomime he draws the bow and sends arrow after 
arrow at an imaginary foe; he jumps as if to dodge 
or parry a blow; he leaps upon an imaginary enemy, 
bears him to the ground, and with a quick move- 
ment of his knife, cuts the scalp and tears it from 



106 LOST MARAMECH 

the head. It sometimes happens, however, that his 
vainglory exceeds the bounds of reason, when he is 
immediately humbled by some warrior who, know- 
ing that he is lying, rushes up and throws some dirt 
into his mouth. The Jesuit Fatheis had no such 
fear to restrain them, for each, alone at his mission, 
had no one to dispute him when writing his reports, 
or accuse him of overdrawing.* 



*Thc above facts regarding Allouez's experience are largely 
gathered from Burrows Brothers' Jesuit Relations. 



CHAPTER VII 

The Foxes, when first visited by the traders, were 
on a river of Wisconsin flowing from west to east 
and emptying into Green Bay, to which river the 
French gave the name that, translated into English, 
became Fox river. Father Allouez first visited 
them at their village, where he established the mis- 
sion of St. Mark in 1671. He traveled many days 
over ice and snow in the severest part of winter to 
get there. Reaching the village, "he had no 
sooner entered it," he tells us, "than he went from 
cabin to cabin, cheering some with the hope of para- 
dise and frightening others with the fear of hell." 
He further says that from these haughty natures he 
was bound to expect nothing but repulse and mock- 
ery, with which they at first received the words he 
bore them, especially in certain cabins whose chiefs 
had as many as eight wives and into which he could 
not step without feeling that he was walking into a 
seraglio. Nevertheless, the father's perseverance 
won the day and he saw that these people were 
insensibly softening, and that what they at first 
received with mockery, they soon after received with 
fear and respect. "I was preparing myself for 
death," he says, "meeting at first nothing but inso- 
lence and repulses from these barbarians; and lo! 
they are listening to me with attention and patience 
beyond what I could have expected even from the 
best disposed people. I enter all the cabins, making 

107 



108 LOST MARAMECH 

the sick pray to God, and baptizing the dying. 
A few days after my arrival, while witnessing the 
death of a person upon whom I had just con- 
ferred baptism, what joy I experienced in seeing 
a soul take flight to heaven from so wanton a coun- 
try." 

The father's picture of the people, of whom I 
shall treat, will bear further scrutiny. 

"I still have reason to be surprised at the looks of 
endearment which I received from most of these 
people, instead of the trouble that I expected, and 
more yet at the simplicity of a good old man in 
whose cabin I publicly explained the holy mystery 
of the incarnation and death of Jesus Christ. As 
soon as I produced my crucifix to display before 
these people, this good man, at the sight of it, 
wished to acknowledge it as his god and to wor- 
ship it by offering the incense of this country; it 
consisting of a powdered tobacco, of which he took 
two or three handfuls and, one by one, scattered it 
over the crucifix and over me, which is the highest 
mark of honor they can show toward those they 
regard as spirits. I could hardly restrain my tears 
of joy at seeing the crucifix of Jesus Christ wor- 
shipped by a savage the very first time he was told 
about Him." 

It does not seem, to one reading these reports, 
that this sentiment could have taken very deep root 
so quickly. But did it ever take root? Was not 
the introduction of so-called civilization the besom 
that swept this tribe almost entirely from the face 
of the earth? In their wretched wigwams in the 
little reservation of Iowa, missionaries still labor 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 109 

for the salvation of the souls of the decaying tribe. 
The good father labored on. 

"A woman did almost the same thing when, being 
thoroughly instructed and receiving baptism, and at 
the point of rendering up her soul, as she after- 
ward did, she repeatedly threw handfuls of tobacco 
on the crucifix which I offered her; her intention 
being the same as that of those who kiss it 
devotedly." 

The whole village being fully imbued with the 
mysteries, by both public and private instruction, 
the father took his departure after baptizing five 
children and two adults, and after receiving assu- 
rance from the elders that upon his return he should 
find a chapel there, which they would build them- 
selves, for entering upon the discharge of the func- 
tions of Christianity. 

"Thus those people are being changed from 
wolves into lambs, and little by little, but with the 
exercise of much patience, are being won to Jesus 
Christ; and hence we hope a Faith will spread to 
many nations who have intercourse with this one, 
and to whom we cannot have access without great 
difficulty. 

"The Ilimouec [Illinois] speak the language of 
the Algonquins, but it differs much from that of 
the other tribes. I understand them but little, for I 
have had but little conversation with them. They 
dwell in this vicinity; their country is more than 
sixty leagues southward, beyond a large river that 
discharges, as I conjecture, in the sea near Virginia. 
These people are hunters and warriors; they use the 
bow and arrow, rarely the gun, and never the canoe. 



no LOST MARAMECH 

This was a numerous nation, distributed in ten vil- 
lages, but at present reduced to two. The continual 
wars with the Nadouessi [Sioux] on one side, and 
the Iroquois on the other, have nearly exterminated 
them. They recognize several spirits to whom they 
offer sacrifices. They practice a kind of dance, 
peculiar to themselves, that they call the dance of 
the Calumet, in the following manner: They pre- 
pare a large pipe that they ornament with plumes 
and put it in the middle of the place, handling it 
with a kind of veneration; one of the company 
raises it, at the same time dancing, and then yields 
his place to a second, this one to a third, and this 
to another. One would take this dance as a ballet 
in pantomime that is made to rhythm with the 
sound of a drum. He makes war, he prepares his 
arms, runs, discovers the enemy, retires, then 
approaches and utters the whoop, then kills the 
enemy, takes his scalp and returns singing the song 
of victory,* but doing all this with an unusual 
promptness and surprising activity. 

"After all have danced, one after the other, 
around the pipe, one takes it and presents it to the 
most noted of all the assembly to smoke, then to 
another, and consecutively to all, wishing by this 
ceremony to signify that which in France is done 
by several drinking from the same glass. But 
more: One leaves the pipe in the hands of the 
most honorable one present as a sacred trust and as 

* This last is very similar to that practiced by most other 
tribes, called "striking the post," and I think that the father's 
mind was confused and hence he mingled two dances in his 
account. 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO m 

a sure pledge of peace and union that shall continue 
as long as it remains in the hands of this person. 

"Among all the spirits to whom they make sacri- 
fices, they honor One particularly that is more prom- 
inent than the others because it is this One who has 
created all things. They have such a desire to see 
this Spirit that they make long fasts, hoping by this 
means God will present Himself to them during their 
troubled sleep; if it happens that they see Him, they 
deem themselves happy and assured of a long life. 

"All of the nations of the south have the same 
wish to see God, which is without doubt a great 
advantage for their conversion, for it only remains 
to instruct them in the manner they should serve to 
see Him and be happy. I have here published the 
name of Jesus Christ to eighty persons of this 
nation, and they have carried and published it to all 
the country south, with praise, so that I can say 
that at this mission, where I have least labored, is 
where my labor has been most effective. Among 
themselves they honor our Saviour in their fashion, 
of whom they put the image that I have given them 
in a place most honored when they make some cele- 
brated feast, and the master of the banquet addresses 
himself to this image in an honorable tone. It is 
Him they honor, the Man God, to Him they say: 
'We make this feast for Thee. It is to Thee that 
we present these goods.' I avow it is there where 
appear the most beautiful fields for the Gospel. If 
I had the leisure and the accommodations, I would 
have gone among them to see with my own eyes the 
good that to me has been recounted. I find those 
with whom I have had to do affable and humane, 



112 LOST MARAMECH 

and it is said that when they encounter some stranger 
they make a cry of joy, caress him, and render to 
him all the proofs of friendship they can. I have 
only baptized one child of this nation. The seeds 
of the Faith that I have sown in their souls will 
bear fruits when the Master of the vine wishes to 
gather it. 

"Their country is warm, and they sow Indian 
corn twice a year.* There are rattlesnakes that 
often cause death, lacking, as they do, an antidote.f 
They hold medicine in high esteem and present 
sacrificesjio it as to the Great Spirit. They have no 
great forests, but very large prairies where the 
buffalo, the deer, the bear, and other animals exist 
in great numbers." 

The father, in a later voyage to Green Bay, found 
the savages in their winterquarters, which consisted 
of a single village of Sacs, Pottawatomies, Foxes, 
and Winnebagoes, in all six hundred people, more 
or less. Farther on, along the Fox river of Wis- 
consin, were other villages of the Foxes, and about 
a day's journey farther still were the Miamis. He 
had gained a knowledge of all these people at the 
"Mission of the Holy Spirit," on Lake Superior. 

He began giving instructions to the Sacs early in 
the year 1671. Later he embarked for the mission 
of the Foxes, and says: "These people came in 

* This is a mistake that is repeated in nearly all accounts 
left by the French. That these people raised an early and a 
late variety of corn, in order that the roasting ears might con- 
tinue for a long time, was as true then as it now is with us. 

\ Few things are now better known than that a certain plant 
was used as an antidote and believed to be effective. 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 



113 



flocks to see us; they said they came to see the 
Manitou who was coming to their country; they 
accompanied us with respect as far as the doors of a 
cabin where we were made to enter." 

The father then went westward to the village of 
the Miamis, and thence returned to the Pottawato- 
mies and Winnebagoes. 

He visited the tribes in the vicinity of Green Bay 
on the following year and found the natives highly 
incensed against the French, who were trading with 
them. 

"They were abusing the French and robbing them 
of their goods, and subjecting them to insults and 
indignities. The natives had received ill-treatment 
from the French, whom they had visited for purposes 
of trade, and claimed to have suffered much from the 
hands of the soldiers. In order to avenge themselves 
these people had chosen forty of their young men, 
appointed a captain whom they placed over them, 
and thus formed a company of soldiers for the pur- 
pose of treating the Frenchmen who were in the 
region in the same manner that the soldiers at the 
French settlements had treated them. A council 
was held with the same formalities that they had 
seen at the settlement of the French. The newly- 
made soldiers took it upon themselves to imitate 
the ceremonies that had prevailed among the 
French, but with the manner of savages. When it 
was time to assemble they came to us with muskets 
at shoulder arms, and hatchets instead of swords at 
the belt. During the sitting of the assembly they 
continued to do mock sentry duty at the cabin door, 
in as dignified a way as they could, pacing, which 



ii 4 LOST MARAMECH 

the savages never do, with muskets first on one 
shoulder, then on the other, striking astonishing 
attitudes more and more ridiculous the more they 
tried to act seriously. The father could hardly 
refrain from laughter, although treating of impor- 
tant matters; viz., the mysteries of religion and 
what one must do to not burn eternally in hell." 

We read much in the Jesuit Re latio?is of the efforts 
of the fathers to save the souls of the savages, and 
some have told us that when they could not "win 
them by presenting the beauties of heaven, they 
frightened them by threats of the torments of hell." 
The old men once called upon the father and tried 
to justify themselves concerning the disorders which 
the young men had been guilty of. As the father 
had reprimanded them, they explained that their 
soldiers had not used the French as badly as they 
themselves had been used at the French settle- 
ments; that they had injured none, but bore the 
marks of broken arms, cut hands, and other wounds 
that had been inflicted upon them. 

The fathers explain, in the Jesuit Relations, their 
methods of reaching the hearts of the savages. 
Father Allouez, for instance, reviewed the lessons 
he had given them during the spring, touching upon 
the sovereignty and unity of God and the incarna- 
tion of His Son; enlarged upon "some of the truths 
more sensible and touching, as, for example, of 
paradise and hell"; and in order to give a better 
knowledge of the cause and to enter by means of the 
eyes far into the hearts of those who came to listen, 
he showed them a picture of the judgment and 
took occasion to explain to them some of the 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 115 

good fortunes of the saints and the torments of the 
damned. 

The Jesuit Relations are rich in expressions indi- 
cating the tender-heartedness of the fathers, but 
such illustrations as the above lead us to believe 
that that reputation was due to the fact that each 
praised the other. Each lauded the other on the 
results of his efforts, and they consoled themselves 
with having secured the eternal salvation of so many, 
the greater portion if not most of whom were 
children baptized at the point of death. This 
baptism in many instances was performed without 
the knowledge of the parents. The adults were 
slow in accepting the Christian religion. They 
could not understand how it could be that people of 
the Christian nation, France, could misbehave to 
the extent they did and merit everlasting happiness, 
while they (savage) lived moral lives. Deprived of 
the knowledge of Christ, because of some wise pur- 
pose of the Creator, they could not believe that 
they needed the interposition of the "black robes" 
to save them. It still remains a question with 
many not lacking in wisdom which should be man's 
greater guide — the natural or a so-called revealed 
religion. They were ignorant of the latter, but 
we are told that in general a day seldom passed with 
an elderly Indian, or others who were esteemed 
wise and good, in which a blessing was not asked 
or thanks returned to the Giver of life; sometimes 
audibly, but more generally in the devotional lan- 
guage of the heart. (Hunter's Memoirs?) We are 
told of an Indian with whom one Brainard talked, 
and who asked "why I desired the Indian to become 



n6 LOST MARAMECH 

a Christian, seeing that the Christians were so much 
worse; that a Christian would lie, steal, and drink 
worse than the Indian? It was they who first taught 
the Indians to be drunk and then steal from one 
another to that degree that their rulers were obliged 
to hang them for it; but it was not sufficient to deter 
others from it, and he supposed that if the Indians 
should become Christians they would then be as bad 
as these." (Halkitt, N. A. I?idians y I., p. 245.) 

While at the villages Father Allouez learned of 
the accessibility of the great river that had been 
known to the traders for many years. Through him 
and others the Governor received information that 
Nicolet, as early as 1634-35, had undoubtedly visited 
it. (Benj. Suite, IV. H. Col., Vol. VIII., p. 188, 
Notes on Jean Nicolet.) La Salle, possibly, had 
journeyed on the great river the year previous to 
the visit made by Joliet and Father Marquette.* 

On the same occasion Father Allouez learned of 
the branch of the Miami tribe whose people were of 
"the great village of Maramek." All of the tribes 
adjacent to Green Bay were visited in 1671 by Per- 
rot, who was sent there as a deputy by Governor 
Courcelles. Perrot was given command of the 
region and had much to do, in later years, with all 
the tribes, as we shall see, particularly the Pean- 
guichia branch of the Miamis. (Shea's Charlevoix, 
Vol. III., p. 166.) Father Charlevoix tells us that 
Perrot visited the Miamis at Chicago, piloted there 
by two Pottawatomies. Shea, in his translation of 
Charlevoix's history, says, however, that Perrot 

* See Ohio River on various maps left by Joliet, and "Recite 
d'un ami de l'Abb6 de Gallinee" (Margry, Vol. I, p. 345). 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 117 

went no farther than Green Bay, which he calls the 
"Bay of the Foxes and Miamis. " His reason given 
for saying this is that, as he claims, the Miamis 
were not then at Chicago. It is no doubt true, 
nevertheless, that one of the many branches of this 
tribe was there. (N. Y. Col. Docs., IX., p. 70.) 

The Foxes were one of the tribes that most 
resented aggressions. They were the only people 
stirred by the acts of Perrot and four holy fathers 
and others who, in 1671, in the name of the king, 
took possession of their country in the presence of 
fourteen tribes that gathered there. The priests 
planted a cross, trusting that it would produce the 
fruits of Christianity. Upon a cedar tree, near by, 
the French deputies posted the arms of France, 
shouting three times, in a loud voice, the name of 
the very high and very powerful monarch Louis 
XIV., very Christian king of France and Navarre. 
Thus they took possession of the country adjacent 
to Sault Ste. Marie, lakes Huron and Superior, and 
all the country, rivers and lakes tributary thereto, 
as far as the sea to the south. Each raised high a 
tuft of grass and shouted "Vive le Roi/" and all 
shouting in unison, in French as well as in the lan- 
guage of the savages, declared the French nation in 
possession of this great region, thereby making all 
the nations subject to the laws of that country. 
The French promised protection to the tribes from 
invasion of their lands by their enemies, and all 
that, as reward for acquiescence; but aside from 
that by Perrot, little effort was ever made by any 
to live up to the promises. The tribes had had 
some experience with the French, and we do not 



u8 LOST MARAMECH 

wonder that the Foxes did not trust them and did 
not take any stock in the good promises made; they 
looked upon the good resolves as chaff in the wind. 

Along the Fox river of Wisconsin, whither various 
tribes gathered in shelter, on the west side of Lake 
Michigan, in order to be less accessible to the 
Iroquois, were the many villages visited by Father 
Allouez, before referred to. Charlevoix speaks of 
this visit as follows: 

"He did not expect a good reception as some of 
these Indians had been ill-treated by the Frenchmen 
at Montreal, and the whole tribe had vowed ven- 
geance. The Foxes were estimated at nearly one 
thousand families. The Miamis and Mascoutins 
resorted to every expedient to dissuade the mis- 
sionary from delivering himself alone to the fury of 
a provoked tribe, which, moreover, had never 
appeared well disposed to harken to the tidings of 
Christianity; but nothing could induce him to 
change his design, and God blessed his courage, 
lie preached Jesus Christ to the Foxes, who admired 
his resolution and his patience, and gradually 
adopted humane ideas toward him. He baptized 
the dying, and especially the children; many, even 
on his departure, begged him to return to see them 
and assured him that if he would take up his abode 
with them he would find a cabin and a chapel 
already erected. " 

Charlevoix, like those of whom he writes, and to 
whom he gives the greatest credit for western dis- 
coveries, was a Jesuit, and his glorification of the 
zeal of Marquette, the predecessor of Allouez, is 
only surpassed by the attempts to heap unearned 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 119 

laurels on the father. He says: "Father Mar- 
quette, on his part, labored quite usefully among 
the Miamis at Chicago." This historian certainly 
departs from the truth; he should have been guided, 
as others have been since, by Marquette's own 
story which tells us that his successes consisted in 
baptizing a dying child, and that not at Chicago. 
This holy duty, as a matter of fact, was performed 
at the Illinois town opposite the Rock on which 
Fort St. Louis was later built, on the first visit. On 
his second visit he was detained by the severe win- 
ter of 1674-5 on the south branch of the Chicago 
river, where he saw but few people, and hence in 
his journal he did not claim to have been instru- 
mental in accomplishing anything material in the 
line of religious duties. When spring approached 
he proceeded to the Illinois town, where in 1673 he 
had baptized the dying child, and there called 
together a multitude of savages. He erected an 
altar and explained to them the mysteries of his 
holy religion. The fatal disease that ended his life 
had made such progress, however, that his stay was 
but of a few days' duration. 

The Miamis, about that time, were neighbors of 
and friendly to the Illinois, and no doubt Marquette 
met some of them. A large band of the Miamis 
was later found on the St. Joseph river, where, on 
his return from the discovery of the mouth of the 
Mississippi river, La Salle commenced to establish 
himself. {L'Histoirde V Amerique Septentrionale par 
La Potherie, II., p. 131.) 

Father Allouez, if we may trust the accounts of 
his zeal as found in the Jesuit Relations, was indeed 



120 LOST MARAMECH 

indefatigable. During the year 1672-4 he labored 
among the many people adjacent to Green Bay and 
learned of many tribes far to the southward. He 
says: "Farther westward is the Mission of St. 
Mark, of the Outegamie, " and various other 
nations, among whom and still farther westward are 
tribes, the unpronounceable names of which he 
gives. Among them he mentions "Marameg, " 
and near by the village of the "Miamis, whither 
come the Illinois, the Kaskaskias, Peorias, Weato- 
nons, Pepikokias, Kilatikas," etc.* This is a mix- 
ture of the Illinois, Miamis, and other tribes. The 
Maramegs were a branch of the Chippewas, the 
home-region of which tribe was around the Falls of 
St. Mary and that portion of Michigan just south of 
Lake Superior. They must not be confused with 
the Miamis of "Maramek." (N. Y. Col. Docs., IX., 
P- 619-) 

* The father erred in this, for all the tribes mentioned were 
near the Illinois river. 




Hundreds (if arrow heads turned up by the plow, n 

mile northeast of the old fort, tell where 

the last stand was made. 




The < emeterj . Tama Reset vation. The 

ire i overed b) logs to pro 

tect those who there sleep 

from tin- wi lives and 

curious white men. 



CHAPTER VIII 

It was during 1672-3 the Jesuits again labored at 
the Mission of St. Mark of the Outagamies (Foxes). 
Father Allouez there baptized forty-eight persons, 
three of whom died shortly after. Some of the 
Foxes having been compelled to remain in their 
village, on account of sickness, the father and his 
party went to see them on their way up the river. 
The party found, at a little distance from the town 
opposite a small rapid, a great rock roughly carved 
into the figure of a man, the face of which had been 
painted red. It was pronounced an idol, because of 
the fact that the Indians invoked it for fortunate 
results of their voyages. It is probable that the 
father as little understood the meaning of this piece 
of rock and the alleged worship of it as did the 
Indians understand him when they looked upon the 
two bars of wood crossing each other, coupled with 
the worship of the father. That seemed to them, 
no doubt, ridiculous mummery over an idol in 
another form. The father wrote, "We overturned 
it into the water." He soon reached the cross that 
had been planted in the village during the previous 
winter, and went to say holy mass in the bark cabin 
in the fort. A little farther on, led by smoke in the 
woods, they found the village of the Foxes. The 
party claims to have been heartily received by 
the sick, when the latter learned the object of their 
arrival, which was only to comfort them and noth- 

121 



122 LOST MARAMECH 

ing more; "for," adds the father, "I would not 
allow the French with me to buy corn or anything 
else." Several of the sick the father had baptized 
the previous winter had died, and two more lingered 
near death. He prepared them for their long jour- 
ney and noticed that one of them, named Joseph, a 
Fox chief, in his prayers always asked for the pres- 
ent life. The father spoke to him of the life of 
heaven. The chief told the father that he did not 
think of death, as he was not yet very old, and 
that he asked God for the life of the body. The 
father labored two hours before he could bring the 
chief to a Christian resignation to the will of God. 
The chief was touched by the story of the cross, 
when the father told him of the agony of Christ and 
of the prayer he offered in the Garden of Olives. 
The chief yielded then, and in spite of his long 
sufferings, the father thought he saw a change in 
him, for the chief took the crucifix and said his 
prayers like that of our Lord, with perfect submis- 
sion and Christian indifference to life or death. 
When confessing a good woman, the father asked 
her whether she did not sometimes get angry. 
"How can I get angry?" she replied; "I, who am 
no longer counted among the living, and only a 
dead body." Children were brought to the father 
to be baptized. A young warrior had received an 
arrow-shot in the thigh. The stone arrowhead had 
remained in the flesh, producing a bad ulcer, which 
had reduced him to a mere skeleton. The father 
baptized him and named him Mark. It does not 
seem to some that a heathen can be so quickly pre- 
pared, and that a drop of water, mumbled words, 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 123 

and a Christian name can have the effect of insuring 
him eternal happiness that was before denied him. 

Chas. W. Colby says: "No one can read the Jesuit 
Relations and believe that the zeal of the fathers did 
not lead them to overstate their successes." {Amer. 
Historical Review, Oct., 1 90 1 . ) 

Father Allouez administered the sacrament of 
extreme unction to some of the dying, but could 
not remain in the village, as the people were break- 
ing camp to go beaver hunting. Later in the winter 
of 1673, having learned that the Foxes had returned 
from their hunt earlier than usual, on account of a 
Sac having killed one of the Foxes during the hunt, 
the father again went to the village. The Heavenly 
Spirit, claimed to have been instilled, did not 
remain with these people. The Foxes who had 
just returned from an embassy to the Iroquois, had 
received a bad impression regarding the Christians, 
and had communicated that impression to their 
people. Added to this, the Sioux had killed thirty 
persons, most of whom had prayed to God before 
going to war. Because of the impression the 
father found no encouragement and was obliged to 
seek shelter from the elements unaided, as best he 
could. He inveighed the Lord against the super- 
stition, the extraordinary license of having many 
wives, and against exposing themselves naked. The 
young men treated him insolently, but they never 
contradicted him, even in their cabins and assem- 
blies; such silence was the result of good breeding — 
little practiced among civilized nations. The father 
declared the chief to be infamous because of his 
number of wives and because he would not listen 



124 



LOST MARAMECH 



when spoken to in regard to his salvation. Later 
the chief came to the father with his youngest wife 
and son, to pray, and he listened willingly when 
exhorted to be satisfied with one wife and not seek 
others. A band of young men blackened their 
faces, entered the cabin of the father in the even- 
ing and said that they had come to sleep there so 
that God might speak to them in their dreams and 
promise to deliver their enemies to them. The 
father says, regarding this visit: "I undeceived 
them and made them pray to God, and they went 
home quickly." A hundred warriors passed by the 
chapel door, only one entering, and he one of those 
baptized only a few days before. The father asked 
those who favored prayer why they did not enter, 
and they replied that prayer had caused them to 
die during the previous summer. 

The father said, in his report: "God wills that 
this church be tried by tribulations." He had 
grounds for hope, however, for during the previous 
winter a band of young Foxes defeated eleven ca- 
noes of Sioux and attributed their victory to prayer, 
for all had prayed before starting. Their account 
of the aid that God had given them induced others 
to pray. They had done so the previous summer, 
the father later informs us, and marked a cross on 
their shields; but of the nineteen, sixteen were cap- 
tured or killed, while out of another band of thirteen, 
three were captured or killed. "This does not dis- 
courage," he continues, "nor will it ever prevent 
some of the people from coming to receive instruc- 
tions." On one occasion the Elders entered the 
cabin, and of them the father speaks as follows: 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 



125 



"They have some ideas that excite compassion; 
time and the grace of the Holy Spirit will tame 
these spirits truly savage. Softness, such as the 
mercies of God, and the reward of paradise are 
necessary to change these spirits, for some seem to 
be barbarous to the last degree. They seem to be 
resolved to either be burned and eaten by their 
enemies, or to burn and eat their enemies. Their 
enemies, after burning them, cut them in pieces, as 
we do animals or fish, and cook them." 

The opportunity to eat the flesh of a brave enemy 
was eagerly sought; the belief being that the par- 
taking of it inspired bravery. While the father was 
at the village some Sacs, who came from Green 
Bay, caused a coldness among the neophytes by 
telling them that only children prayed to God. 
Others said: "How can we pray to God? He does 
not love us; He loves our enemies, for He always 
delivers us into their hands, and seldom delivers 
any of them into ours." 

A small party was going to war, and the old men 
entered the cabin and put several questions to the 
father. God gave the father grace to be able to 
reply, and they admitted that they had been de- 
ceived and that he spoke the truth. They acknowl- 
edged that war was largely governed by fate; they 
did not attribute defeat either to the strength or the 
bravery of their enemies or to the lack of strategy 
on the part of their own captains, but to fate, or to 
the Great Spirit who gave one tribe to be eaten by 
another when it pleased Him. They fasted in order 
that the Great Spirit might speak to them, hoping 
that He would say: "I will give you some of your 



126 LOST MARAMECH 

enemies to eat; go and seek them." They declared 
that one of the chiefs would certainly kill some of 
their enemies, because the Manitou always spoke to 
him. 

The father tells us that he disabused the minds of 
the savages; but his labors were interrupted by a 
cold spell which crusted the snow to such an extent 
that the hunting of the deer and elk became easy, 
and hence the young men took to the woods, fol- 
lowed by the young women, who dressed the ani- 
mals and took the skins and flesh to the village. 
The Foxes ofttimes made preparations for the hunt 
by a long fast, sometimes protracted to even ten 
days. They did much more, for while the men 
were on the hunt, the children were obliged to fast 
in order that they might dream of the bear which 
their relatives were seeking, and they imagined 
that the animals would be caught if seen in a dream 
even by these children. 

The father exultingly claimed to have taken pos- 
session of the infidel land in the name of Jesus 
Christ by erecting a cross within the realm of Satan. 
Hardly a person was seen in the village who did 
not make the sign of the cross with deference. 
"They even have such confidence in it," he tells us, 
"that some of the young warriors, having formed a 
company to wage war on the Sioux, appeared before 
him to learn how they could insure a victory. He 
related to them the story of Constantine, to encour- 
age them by that example, to have recourse to the 
cross. They believed, for with their own hands 
they marked their shields with this adorable sign; 
every morning and evening they made it on them- 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 



127 



selves without fail; and on meeting the enemy, the 
first thing they did was to make the sign of the 
cross, after which they gave battle so confidently 
that they won the victory and, upon returning 
home, they celebrated the power of the cross, pro- 
claiming everywhere that they were solely indebted 
to it for their success." 

There is a strange mixture of sentiment and 
prophecy regarding the discovery of the Mississippi 
river. "Our Holy Faith," the father tells us in 
the Relations, "is more and more gaining a foothold 
among these people, and we have great hopes that 
in a short time we will carry it as far as the famous 
river named Mississippi, and perhaps even to the 
South Sea, that the Gospel may extend as far south- 
ward as we are about to see it has northward." 

This was in 1672, a year before the alleged dis- 
covery of the Mississippi river by Marquette, and 
the fact that it was believed to enter the South Sea 
late historians have shown very plainly, as seen in 
the preceding pages. The belief that it entered the 
Gulf of Mexico was founded not only upon its gen- 
eral course, as far as then known, but also upon the 
fact that the Spanish maps of an early date showed 
a great river entering the Gulf of Mexico at a point 
not far from the actual mouth of the Mississippi, 
and that De Soto had discovered it. La Salle's dis- 
covery of the mouth of the Mississippi was, more than 
all, that of the commercial and strategic value of 
the great river, and not merely one of geographical 
location. 

The eagerness of the Jesuit order to claim for its 
priests the discovery of the Mississippi river was 



128 LOST MARAMECH 

illustrated by Thevcnot in a small book published 
under date of 1681, which contains a map, stated by 
him to be a copy of that of Marquette. It is seen 
that the Mississippi river flows into the Gulf of 
Mexico, and that adjacent to the gulf is placed the 
word "Europeans." The river is shown as flowing 
nearly southward from the mouth of the Arkansas 
river to the gulf. Marquette supposed that the river 
so flowed, but on his genuine map of the river it is 
now shown below the mouth of the Arkansas. In 
Joliet's map, however, it is shown, as may be seen, 
emptying into the gulf. Thevenot must have bor- 
rowed more from Joliet than from Marquette, 
although he claims to have followed the latter. 
Another copy of the alleged Marquette map is in 
the Lenox Library, and on it is the following: 
"Map of the new discoveries that the Reverend 
Fathers Jesuits have made in the year of 1672, con- 
tinued by the Reverend Father Jacques Marquette, 
accompanied by some French in the year 1673," 
etc. It will be noticed that the name of Joliet, who 
was the head and front of the expedition, is unmen- 
tioned. Comparing the Thevenot map with Mar- 
quette's and Joliet's, it is seen that the resemblance 
is closer to that of Joliet than to Marquette's. 
Marquette learned nothing further of the Missis- 
sippi on the voyage he made to the Illinois country 
in 1674, for he went by the return route of the 
former voyage, and no farther southward than the 
Illinois town near Starved Rock. He died six years 
before the publication of Thevenot's book and of 
the map in the Lenox Library. Again, comparing 
closely the map copied in Thevenot's book with that 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 129 

left by Jolict, it is found that the names of towns 
and the general courses of rivers correspond very 
nearly with Joliet's. His map is more correct than 
that left by Marquette, although it was drawn from 
memory; he having lost his original ones when 
shipwrecked in the St. Lawrence. If Marquette, 
before his death, had time to draw the Thevenot 
map, he must have done so with the Joliet map, and 
perhaps others, before him. The data for Mar- 
quette's original map, as has been shown, was 
mostly gathered before undertaking the journey. 
But the map given by Thevenot shows features not 
known until long after Marquette's death. 

The Mission of St. Mark did not long hold its 
own. Father Allouez visited the nation in 1676, 
and tells us: "As for the Mission of the Outa- 
gamie, where last year we planted a large cross in 
the middle of their village, we hoped a great deal 
from their conversion, since we see that our Lord has 
made them share His cross. Last winter many of 
them were killed by the Sioux. The summer fol- 
lowing their corn was injured by the frosts and they 
gathered but little, and that little spoiled in the 
autumn in the places where stored. During the past 
winter many died from disease, and the Illinois 
committed acts of hostility upon them and captured 
many. During some visits I made I baptized seven- 
teen, among whom were ten adults who died after 
baptism. Of the old Christians who numbered one 
hundred and forty-four, twenty-seven died, upon 
whom we had reason to believe God had mercy. 
The Puants and the Sacs, who have stopped here in 
our church during all Lent, came assiduously to 



130 LOST MARAMECH 

listen to our instructions and pray to God. We 
have baptized seven children." 

To Green Bay came the Sioux when they dared. 
The Iowas, the Illinois, Miamis, and many others 
also came to trade among themselves and with the 
French. Pipes from Minnesota are found in various 
parts of the country, which is one of the indelible 
records of the fact that trade was carried on over 
long distances. This stone, catlinite of modern 
geology, is found only in Pipestone county, Minne- 
sota, and is an argillaceous shale of a beautiful pink 
color and takes a fine polish. The pipes have been 
picked up in nearly every state of the Union; a fine 
little specimen found its way to Maramech. 

The honesty of the various tribes, including the 
Foxes before being contaminated by the whites, was 
proverbial, but it did not last. Whether the teach- 
ing of the fathers, who themselves found it neces- 
sary to preach honesty to the French traders, led 
the natives to know that dishonesty was practiced 
by the foreigners, we do not know. We do know, 
however, that they soon lost their regard for the 
rights of others. 

La Salle, in the autumn of 1679, stopped at Green 
Bay, added to his supplies and turned his canoes 
southward along the western coast of Lake Michi- 
gan. Late in October adverse winds compelled him 
to land. He went, as usual, into the woods to see 
what he might discover, where he found "grapes 
ripe and very good," of which the Recollet Fathers 
made wine with which to celebrate mass. lie also 
observed fresh foot-prints, which prompted him to 
rejoin his people to command them to be on their 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 131 

guard and make no noise. They obeyed him for 
some time but having perceived a bear and a deer 
they could not resist the temptation of shooting at 
them. This noise made them known to one hun- 
dred and twenty-five Foxes whose home was near 
the extremity of Green Bay, but who were then 
camping near the Frenchmen without any knowl- 
edge of such neighbors. La Salle, to whom the 
presence of these people gave much anxiety, blamed 
his men for their imprudence and, to prevent sur- 
prises, he put a sentinel near the canoes under which 
his companions had put their cargoes to protect 
them from the rain. He put another guard near 
their campfires. These precautions were not suffi- 
cient to prevent thirty Foxes, favored by the 
abundant rain and the negligence of the sentinel, 
from creeping along the shore where were the arms 
and supplies. Lying fiat they arranged themselves 
in a line, and the first one taking what he wished 
passed it on to the nearest, and thus it went from 
hand to hand to the last one. La Salle awoke and, 
having raised himself to see if his sentinel was 
doing his duty, saw something move, which 
prompted him to require his men to take their arms 
and occupy an eminence near which the Foxes were 
obliged to pass. A part of these savages, seeing 
themselves discovered, called out that they were 
friends. La Salle responded that the hour was one 
at which people came only to steal or kill those who 
were not on their guard. They replied that in truth 
the gunshots that they had heard made them believe 
that a party of the hostile Iroquois was near; this 
they said they believed because the neighboring 



1.12 



LOST MARAMECH 



savages did not use firearms; that they had advanced 
thus with the intention of killing these supposed 
enemies, but having recognized Frenchmen, whom 
they regarded as brothers, their impatience held 
them from waiting for daylight. La Salle feigned 
to accept this reason and bade them approach to 
the number of five or six only, because their young 
men were accustomed to steal, and his people were 
not in the humor to suffer anything of this kind. 
Four or five men advanced and remained until the 
approach of day, when he gave them permission to 
retire. After their departure, he perceived what 
had been stolen. He knew perfectly the humor of 
the savages, and he knew that they would undertake 
to do the same every night if he dissimulated in this 
case. He caused his people to occupy an eminence 
that was in the form of a peninsula, and he then 
went out in search of some savage who had strayed 
from the others. He had scarcely been gone a half 
hour before he found the fresh tracks of a hunter. 
He followed him, pistol in hand, and having imme- 
diately overtaken him, brought him to the place 
where he had left the guard. After having informed 
him of all the circumstances ot the theft, he imme- 
diately went with two of his people and halted 
another savage, evidently a more important person- 
age. He pointed out to him, in the distance, the 
one he had taken prisoner, and sent him to say to 
his people that he would kill their comrade if they 
did not bring back all that had been stolen. This 
proposition embarrassed the savages, because they 
had cut some of the clothing to pieces to divide 
among them, and consequently were not able to 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 



133 



return it entire. As these people have much friend- 
ship for each other, they resolved to take their com- 
rade by force. The next morning they advanced, 
arms in hand, to begin the attack. The peninsula 
where the French were was separated the distance 
of a gunshot from the woods where the savages 
appeared. La Salle noticed that, on the side of the 
woods, there were several little knolls, the nearest 
one to him commanding the others. He advanced 
to occupy it with five men. Carrying their blan- 
kets, one-half wrapped around their left arms to 
cover themselves against the arrows of the savages, 
they advanced; they had already occupied all of 
these eminences, but seeing that the French ap- 
proached to charge them, they abandoned the near- 
est one, which gave La Salle time to mount the 
highest point. An act so daring intimidated the 
savages to such an extent that, immediately after, 
six of the old men approached, presenting the calu- 
met of peace, and having come near, on the assu- 
rance that they could do so without fear, they said 
that they were carried to this extremity only because 
of their inability to return what had been taken in 
the condition that it was when taken, and that they 
were ready to restore all that remained in good con- 
dition. They presented, at the same time, robes of 
beaver skins to La Salle to conciliate him, excusing 
themselves as best they could for the little value of 
their presents. La Salle contented himself with 
their apology, listened to their promises and par- 
doned them. The day following was passed in 
dancing and feasts in which they begged La Salle to 
remain with them and not try to go to the Illinois, 



i 3 4 LOST MARAMECH 

which would be impossible, for the Illinois were 
resolved to massacre all the Frenchmen because an 
Iroquois, whom they had taken and burned, had 
assured them that the war made on them by his 
nation had been counselled by the French who hated 
the Illinois. They added many similar reasons 
which alarmed La Salle's party, and he felt much 
uneasiness because of the fact that all savages he 
had encountered on his route had said very nearly 
the same thing. He knew this objection was inspired 
by those who opposed his enterprise and made 
plausible by the expressed fears of the savages to 
whom the Illinois were renowned for their valor, 
and who feared that the Illinois would become still 
more haughty by receiving, through the French, a 
knowledge of the use of firearms. He resolved, 
however, to continue his route and take all the pre- 
cautions necessary for the protection of himself and 
party. He thanked the Foxes for the advice they 
had given, but said that he did not fear the Illinois 
and that he felt his ability to dispose of them by 
friendship or by force. La Salle and his party 
departed the next day for the mouth of the St. 
Joseph river, and were no more troubled by the 
Foxes. He established peace among the various 
tribes of the region forming his "Colonic " (Margry, 
Vol. I.) 

In 1680 a band of Illinois and Miamis, possibly 
those of Maramech, who were hunting on the St. 
Joseph river, were attacked by a party of Iroquois, 
who surprised them, killed thirty or forty and made 
three hundred prisoners, composed of women and 
children. (La Hontan, I., 1C9.) I believe that 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 



135 



this is one version of the attack upon the great 
Indian town of Kaskaskia, opposite what is now 
called Starved Rock, or that at least in it two 
accounts are mixed. After the Iroquois had rested 
they separated and started on a leisurely return to 
their country, believing that they would regain their 
villages before the Illinois and Miamis had time to 
send runners to their people, then dispersed in 
various distant places. The fact that the Illinois 
and Miamis were away from home is made evident 
by the further fact that the attacked were a party of 
hunters, and it is probable also that a large portion 
of the two tribes remained in the vicinity of Kas- 
kaskia and along the Fox river of Illinois, as far 
north as Maramech, or farther. The Pestekouy, as 
already shown, was the home of the branches of the 
Miami tribes. 

La Hontan evidently received this story through 
the French or Indians, which accounts for the varia- 
tion from Tonty's official report of what may have 
been the same encounter. The Iroquois deceived 
themselves, we are told, to such an extent that the 
Illinois and Miamis had time to rally to the number 
of four hundred, resolved to die sooner than permit 
their people to be taken away. As the parties were 
unequal, the Illinois and Miamis made an effort to 
find some good expedient and, after having well 
considered the manner of attack, they concluded to 
follow the Iroquois until rain might fall. Their 
project succeeded, as the heavens seemed to favor 
them. For a day the rain continued from morning 
until night. They doubled their pace as soon as 
the rain began to fall, and passing two leagues to 



136 LOST MARAMECH 

the side of the Iroquois, took a position before the 
latter and formed an ambuscade in the middle of 
a prairie that the Iroquois must cross to gain the 
woods where they intended to make their camp. 
The Illinois and Miamis lying flat on the ground, in 
the bushes and ferns, awaited the Iroquois. When 
the latter were between them they let fly their 
arrows and attacked so vigorously that the 
Iroquois, not being able to use their guns, on 
account of the priming being wet, were forced to 
throw them away and defend themselves as best 
they might, resorting to the same kind of arms as 
those used by the attacking party. The Illinois 
were more agile than the Iroquois, and the latter 
were obliged to yield, fighting until darkness, after 
having lost eighty of their warriors. The battle 
would have continued into the night if the Illinois 
and Miamis had not feared that their rescued prison- 
ers, being tied and remaining behind them, were 
exposed to surprise in the darkness, so, after having 
rejoined them and taken all the guns of the flying 
Iroquois, thrown hither and thither, they returned 
to their country without endeavoring to capture the 
invaders. 

The above is a fair specimen of the method of 
warfare that was carried on between the eastern and 
western tribes. La Hontan, in the same volume 
(page 169), gives an instance of the strategy and 
bravery that distinguished the Foxes. In 16S3 he 
was preparing for his voyage of discovery up the 
"Riviere Longue, " which river, by the way, evi- 
dently had its source, its mouth, and all its length 
only in his brain. The Fox chiefs gave him guides. 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 



137 



The story of the following encounter may be as 
imaginary as his alleged discoveries along this 
"Riviere Longue. " Be that as it may, the story 
runs that a body of one thousand Iroquois came by 
canoes, at the close of autumn, as far as the Bay of 
Missisagues on Lake Huron, without being discov- 
ered, and there landed. As they were so numerous, 
they carried with them nets by means of which they 
expected to catch fish in the little lakes and rivers 
while awaiting the approach of a freeze-up, which 
occurred soon after. As soon as the ice was suffi- 
ciently strong they continued their route, coasting 
Lake Huron five or six leagues to the south of Sault 
Ste. Marie, to which place they dared not go, fear- 
ing to find coureurs du bois in the fort of the Jesuits. 
Having traversed The Bay they judged proper to 
march single file, one in the footsteps of another, in 
order that, if their tracks were discovered, it should 
appear that only thirty or forty had passed at most. 
They marched in this manner until about the mid- 
dle of February without being perceived, but unfor- 
tunately for them four Sauteurs (people of the Sault 
Ste. Marie, a branch of the Chippewa tribe), having 
seen them pass in great numbers over a little lake, 
ran to the hunting-grounds of the Foxes to inform 
them of the danger, although their own tribes were 
at war with the Foxes. They bore no love for the 
Foxes and would have profited by their defeat but 
for the fact that success of the Iroquois over the 
smaller tribes would, in the end, mean their own 
defeat by the conquering tribe. 

About this time a thaw interfered with the inten- 
tions of the Iroquois, who yet counted on fifteen 



US LOST MARAMECH 



j 



days of cold weather as was ordinarily the case dur- 
ing that part of the winter. They quickened their 
pace, sought the straight paths and those less fre- 
quented. The Foxes were much embarrassed as to 
the course they should pursue. It was true that the 
warriors would be able to gain their village in all 
safety, but to do so they would have been forced to 
abandon their women and children, who had not 
the strength to run as fast as the men. Finally, 
after having held council, they resolved to advance 
as far as a certain passage, a half league in length 
(about one and two-tenths miles), and of thirty paces 
breadth, between two little lakes, where they fore- 
saw that the Iroquois were likely to pass. The 
Foxes numbered four hundred, and judged proper to 
divide themselves into two bodies, one party of two 
hundred holding one end of the passage, which they 
fortified immediately by planting posts across from 
one lake to the other, and the other two hundred 
remained within a fourth of a league of the other 
end of the passage in order that, after having pre- 
pared poles, they could run quickly and fortify 
themselves. As soon as the Foxes discovered that 
the Iroquois had all passed they ran with all speed, 
carrying heavy poles to enclose the little strip of 
land bordered by the two lakes. They had suffi- 
cient time to plant the poles and support them by 
throwing up earth, before the Iroquois, astonished at 
having found the road closed at the other end, had 
retraced their steps only to see themselves closed 
between two barriers. The Iroquois came "with all 
legs," as the Baron puts it, to force the new barri- 
cade, but they fled at the first discharge made by the 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 



139 



Foxes. The Iroquois, seeing themselves thus closed 
in, were led to believe that the number of the Foxes 
was great. They questioned how to get out of their 
prison; whether to throw themselves into the water 
and cross one of the lakes, to do which would have 
required much courage, for the distance was long, 
the water very cold, and the ice not of sufficient 
strength to sustain them. During this time the 
Foxes fortified their barricades better and better, 
and sent their runners to the other sides of the lakes 
to kill all those who attempted to escape. In spite 
of these precautions the Iroquois found an expe- 
dient, which was to make some rafts of the trees 
which surrounded them; but the strokes of the 
hatchets made the Foxes aware of the design that 
they had in mind, which they believed to be to make 
some canoes of skins of deer to pass over one of the 
little lakes during the night. The rafts were made 
in five or six days, during which time the Iroquois 
caught fish in quantities, in full view of the Foxes, 
who could not stop them. It only remained to 
cross the lakes and fight at the place of landing in 
case their secret crossing was discovered. In order 
to succeed better they made an attempt of which 
success would have been sure had the bottom of the 
lake not been so muddy that the poles, by which 
the rafts were moved, sank so deeply in the mud 
that it was found exceedingly difficult to withdraw 
them. This caused the Iroquois to move so slowly 
that the Foxes had time to run to the other side of 
the lake where they perceived the Iroquois, a mus- 
ket-shot from the shore. At the time they reached 
a depth of only three feet the Iroquois threw them- 



1 4 o LOST MARAMECH 

selves into the water, vigorously endeavoring to 
charge the Foxes who were no more than three hun- 
dred in number because they had left fifty men at 
each of the barricades. It was a miracle that the 
Iroquois were not all killed in gaining the shore, for 
they sank into the mud as far as the knees. As this 
was during the night, all of the strokes of the Foxes 
were not effective although there were five hundred 
Iroquois in the water, the rest having taken land in 
spite of the resistance of the Foxes. The Iroquois, 
once landed, attacked the Foxes so vigorously that 
if the one hundred men left to guard the barricades 
had not come promptly, upon hearing the gunshots, 
the Foxes could not have held their ground. They 
fought until daylight in a disordered way, dispersed 
here and there in the woods, the people of the same 
party killing one another without knowing it. The 
Iroquois who, until that time were so obstinate as 
not to concede the field of battle, because of their 
wounded and also because they did not wish the 
Foxes to take the scalps of their dead, were obliged 
to fly, but were pursued. They rallied a league dis- 
tant. Being nearly to the number of three hun- 
dred, they were surely stronger than the Foxes, who 
were enfeebled by having lost one-half of their 
people in this fierce battle; besides all this, among 
the two hundred who remained there were thirty 
wounded. The Foxes, seeing the Iroquois depart, 
returned to their homes without fear. Arriving at 
tluir village, they acknowledged the services of the 
two Sauteurs, who had informed them of the 
approach of the; Iroquois, proclaimed them gnat 
chiefs of war and gave them one-half of the results 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 141 

of their hunt. After having made all good cheer 
possible and having heaped all honors of which 
they were capable upon the Sauteurs, they sent 
them by canoe to Sault Ste. Marie, by way of Green 
Bay, with an escort of twenty warriors. The Sau- 
teurs in vain refused the presents brought by the 
cortege, because the two nations were at war; but 
the furs they were made to accept, and this led to 
reconciliation of the two nations within four 
months. The Foxes were usually successful in 
their battles, but the risk they sometimes took is 
well shown by the foregoing. 




The dam ers, Tama Resen ai ii m 




I he dog sacrifice, Tama Reservatioo 



CHAPTER IX 

The superstitions of the natives of America 
troubled the traders and explorers as little as the 
dogmas of many of the denominations trouble the 
business world to-day; but the fathers sought out 
the superstitions of the Indians with a view to 
eradicating them and, I fear, substituting others. 
Father Hennepin had much to say about the super- 
stitions of the Indians and tells an interesting story 
of what took place at the Falls of St. Anthony while 
he and his party were there making the portage. 
They noticed five or six Sioux who were in advance, 
one of whom climbed an oak tree opposite the great 
falls, where he was weeping bitterly. A well- 
dressed beaver robe, whitened inside and trimmed 
with porcupine quills, he offered as a sacrifice to the 
falls. The father heard him say, while shedding 
copious tears and addressing the Great Creator: 
"Thou who art a spirit, grant that all the men of 
our nation may pass here quietly without accident; 
that we may kill buffalo in abundance, conquer our 
enemies, and bring our captives here, some of whom 
we will put to death before Thee. The Foxes have 
killed our kindred. Grant that we may avenge 
them." The reflective reader will not say that this 
prayer differs much, except perhaps in degree, from 
that of the One Hundred and Ninth Psalm, nor does 
it differ much from the prayer of the present day, 
when we ask that our Great Creator turn a cold 
shoulder to our enemies and aid us. 

143 



i 4 4 LOST MARAMECH 

Peace made with the natives at the falls, the 
father informs us the day was spent in dancing, 
feasts, and speeches. A principal chief of these 
Indians, turning toward the Recollets, said: "See 
the Gray-Gowns for whom we feel great esteem; 
they go barefooted like us; they despise the beaver 
robes which we wish to give them without any hope 
of return; they have no arms to kill us with; they 
flatter and caress our little children and give them 
beads for nothing, and those of our nation who 
have carried furs to the villages of the French have 
told us that the Great Chief of the French loves 
them because they have left everything that the 
French esteem most to come and visit us and remain 
with us. You, who are the chief of those who are 
here, arrange so as to make one of the Gray-Gowns 
remain with us. We will give him a part of all we 
have to eat, and we will take him to our villages 
after we have killed some buffalo, and you who are 
master arrange so as to also stay here with us. Do 
not go to the Illinois, for we know that they wish to 
massacre all the French. It will be impossible for 
you to resist that numerous nation." 

Some parts of Hennepin's story may be bits of 
romance similar to that found in the second edition 
of his book, where he claims to have floated down 
the Mississippi river to its mouth, prior to La Salle's 
voyage, making the journey from the mouth of the 
Illinois river and back in an incredibly short time. 
It is believed by some that Hennepin had nothing 
to do with this fictitious claim, but that it was 
inserted by the enterprising publisher of the second 
edition, to add interest. 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 145 

The French traders had no sooner become well- 
established on the great lakes than the people of 
New England turned envious eyes thitherward. 
The Foxes, never over-friendly with the French, 
were instrumental, it is thought, in leading the Eng- 
lish on in that direction. During the year 1686 a 
branch of the Fox tribe was located on the banks of 
the Detroit river, and the English made every effort 
to strengthen the friendship between themselves 
and the Foxes by frequent messages and valuable 
presents. No permanent settlement was made by 
the French at Detroit until about fourteen years 
later. Thus occupied, it was regarded by both the 
French and English nations as a most important 
point, commanding, as it did, a broad tract of 
country even to the Mississippi river, and furnishing 
a channel of navigation to the whole country border- 
ing the lakes. In view of this fact the establish- 
ment of a fortified post at Detroit was eagerly 
sought for a long time by both. 

Every smile of the English upon the tribe brought 
a scowl to the brows of the French. The Iroquois 
also claimed the west by right of conquest and, 
through the latter, the English looked to gain a 
hold on the western trade. The Foxes and Iroquois 
were not always warring against each other; they 
mingled, when at peace. The character of both 
was such that it is not to be wondered that they 
were said by General Smith, in his History of Wis- 
consin, to be of the same blood. He says: "The 
Outagamies or Foxes who resided along the banks 
of the Detroit river were of Iroquois descent, and 
agitation of the English cause soon made their 



i 4 6 LOST MARAMECH 

power known and severely felt by the French settle- 
ments." No fact is better known, however, than 
that the origin of the two tribes was as absolutely 
distinct as the languages they spoke. The Iroquois 
were Iroquois and the Foxes were Algonquins. 

One of the most influential officers sent by the Gov- 
ernor of New France among the western tribes was 
Nicholas Perrot, before referred to. He was dis- 
patched to the west in 1670 as an agent of the Gov- 
ernor to propose a congress of the western nations 
at Sault Ste. Marie. (Smith's History of Wis., I., 32.) 
The invitation was extended to all of the tribes of 
the western lake regions. It was also carried to the 
wandering hordes of the remotest north and west, 
from Green Bay, by Pottawatomies. 

The French gradually increased their trade west- 
ward, however, where they were welcomed, as much 
as anything because they brought arms to the tribes 
by which they could win in the wars against their 
enemies farther on in the wilds. The Governor of 
New France chose Perrot to make discoveries and 
gain information among the natives because with 
some of them he had become thoroughly acquainted, 
having learned their languages well. 

Soon after Perrot left Montreal on one of his 
journeys his party met some Ottawas who informed 
them that the Sauteurs had been destroyed by the 
Foxes and that they (the Ottawas) were on their 
way to the Governor to demand arms in exchange 
for their furs, in order to avenge the Sauteurs. 

Although these people had frequent quarrels 
among themselves, for which others cared little, it 
was at this time to the interests of the colony to 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 147 

prevent them from destroying each other. (La 
Potherie, II., p. 166.) Perrot promptly sent word 
to the Governor, and the latter wrote to the Jesuit 
Fathers and to the commandant at Mackinaw, 
instructing them to prevent the Ottawas from under- 
taking anything against the Foxes. The Ottawas, 
to whom the letters had been given for delivery, 
fearing that the Governor might put some obstacles 
in their way, burned the letters, with the exception 
of those addressed to Perrot, because they imagined 
that, being their friend, he would favor their 
designs. All that they said to the fathers on their 
arrival was that the Governor had consented to 
their making "soup of the Foxes," this being their 
way of speaking of an enemy whom they expected 
to attack. The letters delivered to Perrot, how- 
ever, showed the contrary to be the case, for the 
Governor expressly forbade them to attack the 
Foxes and requested that Perrot adjust the differ- 
ences, which he proceeded to do 

A Sauteur chief had a daughter of eighteen years 
of age who had been in slavery among the Foxes 
for a year, and he had the apprehension that he 
would be burned alive if he should go thither for 
her. The various tribes of The Bay had carried 
numbers of prisoners to the Foxes to purchase this 
girl, but nothing could influence them. It was 
feared, even, that she had already been sacrificed 
to the shades of the Fox chief whom the Sauteurs 
had killed. The father found no consolation, wher- 
ever he went, because these people said to him that 
the Frenchmen had no influence among the Foxes, 
and that his child would never be returned to him. 



148 LOST MARAMECH 

Perrot undertook to restore the girl but required 
the father to remain at The Bay for fear that the 
Foxes would take and burn him, and passed on. 
When first he arrived at the Fox village they 
greeted him cordially and recited to him the treason 
of the Sauteurs and the Sioux; they told him that 
their great chief had been killed in the wars, with 
twenty-six of their people, and, although outnum- 
bered, they had put the enemy to flight. These 
complaints gave him occasion to speak of this 
daughter and, having made them assemble, he 
addressed them in strong words: "Old men of the 
Fox tribe, chiefs and young men, listen to me. I 
have known that, in order to make peace with the 
Sauteurs and the Sioux, . . . the first had engaged 
the Sioux to put you and your families in the ket- 
tles. It is the Great Spirit that has given us to 
know the perilous war you have had. We have 
prayed Him to have pity on you and He will be able 
to deliver you from your enemies. . . . He met you 
on the battlefield; you have made some prisoners, 
and you have cut off the heads of those whom you 
have killed, which is proof of the valor of savages; 
... it is the Spirit that has fought for you that you 
should recognize as your liberator. What wish you 
to do with this girl that you have held so long? Is 
she able to quiet the resentment that you have 
against her nation? She belongs to me, and I 
demand her. I am her father. That is the senti- 
ment that prompts me to come to you as the first 
Frenchman who has opened the doors of your 
cabins. All these children of The Bay, who are 
my children and your brothers, fear your refusal; 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 149 

they fear the misfortunes that you menace; swallow 
your desire for vengeance if you wish to live." 

He had his calumet in hand while speaking to 
them, which he presented to the lips of the brother 
of the great chief to make him smoke, but it was 
refused. He presented it to others, who received 
it. Finally he refilled it and presented it again to 
the first, three times, but it was rejected as before. 
This led Perrot to leave in indignation. The tribe 
was of two extractions, one calling themselves 
Foxes, and the others Musquakees, — "People of 
the Red Earth." The one who refused to receive 
the calumet was chief of the Foxes, having taken the 
place of his brother. This chief of the People of 
the Red Earth followed Perrot and brought him 
into the cabin, where he also assembled all of the 
old men and the warriors of his nation, saying to 
them: 

"You have heard Metaminens [Perrot], your 
father, who wishes to give us life, and have heard 
our brothers, the Foxes, who wish us to accept it. 
. . . Bring me the kettles — we will feast and I will 
speak to them. I will test their good-will and 
determine if they intend to refuse me. I have 
always sustained them. My dear father and my 
brothers exposed themselves always for them, hav- 
ing lost many young people in defending them. If 
they refuse me, I will put out my fires and abandon 
them to the fury of their enemies." 

After they had brought the kettles and some 
presents, he took his pipe and entered the cabin of 
this headstrong man, with a company of his lieu- 
tenants, and said to him: "My comrade, behold the 



150 



LOST MARAMECH 



pipe of our ancestors who are dead. . . . They pre- 
sented it to thy people, who have never refused it. 
I present it to thee, refilled [after a feast from these 
kettles], and I pray thee to have pity on our chil- 
dren and give this savage woman to Metaminens, 
who asks her of thee. He has always been our 
father." 

The chief of the Foxes then smoked and required 
all his relatives to do the same. 

The chief of the People of the Red Earth returned 
to his cabin and said to Perrot that the affair was 
settled; he should have the Sauteur woman. 

There arose, during the night, so great a storm 
that it seemed as if the world were being destroyed. 
It rained very hard; the lightnings and thunders 
made so great a disturbance that the people believed 
themselves to be lost. As all savages are naturally 
superstitious, they imagined that the Great Spirit 
was angered against them. The fright had put them 
beside themselves; they believed that the Spirit 
was about to overwhelm them. Onkinumiassan 
knew no longer where he was. . . . Metaminens 
had changed his course because he knew well that 
it was the only means by which he could get the 
captive quickly. Onkinumiassan prayed the chief 
of the Red Earths to take her to him; he dared not 
present himself before Metaminens without the 
woman. The chief replied: "It is for thee to give 
her to him; ... he will not show to thee so much 
of evil." So superstitious was this chief that he 
believed Perrot to have brought on the storm as a 
punishment to him. 

The rain continued during the day. They entered 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 151 

into the cabin of Perrot with the Sauteur woman, 
beseeching him to stop the rain, which would 
destroy them, and to prevent the Sauteurs and their 
allies from any longer making war. He thanked 
them again by a present of tobacco and a kettle, 
saying to them that this kettle would serve them for 
a roof to shield them from the rain,* and that they 
could smoke peaceably and without fear that the 
Spirit would punish them. Perrot, not believing 
himself to be a good prophet, nor to have the 
ability to make the rain stop, judged well that if he 
should rest long enough in possession of the prisoner, 
matters were likely to change. He took leave of 
them, notwithstanding the bad weather, promising 
them that it would become pleasant before he 
arrived at The Bay. 

The Foxes treated their prisoners with more 
humanity than did most other tribes. A Shawnee 
prisoner, who had been taken by the Iroquois, was 
rescued by the Sauteurs, and finally sent by the 
Pottawatomies back to his people, with a supply of 
goods received from the French traders; this was 
with a view to inducing his tribe to join them, as 
La Salle had early planned and partly brought about. 

Forty Shawnee warriors by these presents were 
induced to establish themselves near the Pottawato- 
mies and surprised, during their voyage, some Iro- 
quois who were on their way from having made war 
on the tribes neighboring Green Bay, of which they 

* This metaphor was probably intended to impress upon them 
the belief that the kindly feeling on the part of the Sauteurs, 
induced by the giving up of the chief's daughter, was such as 
to shelter them from attack. 



1 52 LOST MARAMECH 

had killed and brought away several. They passed 
by a village of Miamis, who received them so well 
they could not refuse to give them the prisoners 
they had taken from the Iroquois. The Miamis 
sent the prisoners to the Foxes, to be eaten, in order 
that the latter might avenge the occupants of the 
five cabins the Iroquois had taken away a little 
before. The Foxes, believing this a favorable 
opportunity to make an exchange of prisoners how- 
ever, sent an ambassador to the Iroquois nation. 
When the ambassador had turned the head of Lake 
Michigan he found eight hundred Iroquois on their 
way to attack the first village they might reach. 
The Iroquois were calmed and gave their promise 
to the ambassador that there should henceforth be a 
barrier between his nation, including its allies, and 
theirs, and that the river Chicagon [Chicago] should 
be the limits of their war courses. 

We are shown on early maps the Des Plaines 
river as the Chicagou, and also, on other maps, the 
well-known river that parts the great city, as having 
its present name. Must it not then be that the 
Iroquois promised this ambassador from the Fox 
nation that the Chicago river, as we know it, or per- 
haps the Des Plaines, also called the Chicagou in 
those days, should be the limit of their aggressions? 
The indefiniteness of La Potherie leads me to believe 
that historians have not dared locate many of the 
tragedies and other events mentioned by him; the 
fact is that we find no mention of such a river in 
Nicholas Perrot's manuscript in this connection. 
The caution I have so far exercised I shall relax 
somewhat, while dealing in matters dwelt upon by 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 



153 



La Potherie with reference, as I believe, to past 
events in the neighborhood of our great city of the 
west, and the ancient "great village of Maramech." 
I am fully warranted in assuming that by "Chi- 
cagon" (evidently one of the many errors in reading 
the old French manuscripts) is meant "Chicagou." 
This last was the most common way of spelling the 
name two centuries ago. 

The claims made by the Iroquois to a great area 
west of the Alleghany mountains were founded on 




Fragment of Jeffrey's Map Not Dated. Showing West- 
ern Bounds of the Iroquois. 



previous conquests; but the line they drew did not 
always bar their steps. The map on page 33, 
sketched from Bowen and Gibson's of 1763, shows, 
by dotted lines drawn along the Illinois river and, in 
part following the Des Plaines (laid down as "Illi- 
nois or Chicagou river"), where the limits of the 
Iroquois claims were understood to be when the 
English took possession of the Mississippi valley. 
The Iroquois sent the Fox ambassador to his tribe 



154 LOST MARAMECH 

with one of their principal men and a young warrior, 
and turned themselves against the Shawnees. This 
principal man (a chief) passed by the towns of the 
Miamis, Mascoutins, and Kickapoos, where he was 
well received and presented with a quantity of 
beaver skins. These nations deputed two Miamis 
to accompany him on his return in order to treat 
for peace. Going to the village of the Foxes they, 
in turn, gave him proofs of their good-will, and he 
finally arrived at Green Bay, where the people 
expressed great joy and received him as a friend. 
They made presents of furs, and also gave him two 
large canoes to enable him to carry the presents he 
had received. 

The Iroquois army, deterred from their purpose 
to attack the northern tribes, divided, sending six 
hundred against the Shawnees who formed a part of 
the Illinois confederation, while two hundred fol- 
lowed the Des Plaines river to Chicago,* where they 
encountered some Illinois who were returning from 
Mackinaw with some Ottawas, of whom they cap- 
tured and killed nineteen. The Illinois might have 
attacked the Iroquois but, instead, sent deputies to 
Governor Frontenac, and complained that the Iro- 
quois had violated the peace and said that, fearing 
to displease him, they had not attacked the Iroquois 
in return; they demanded justice through him. 

The Governor sent word by M. de la Forest who, 
in the absence of Tonty, commanded at the Illinois 
village 'neath the frowning brow of what is now 

* The Indian town and river were variously spelled: 
C/u'gawa, Chikagoua, C/u'kagawa, Chkagon, Chikagou and 
many others. 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 



155 



Starved Rock, that they must defend themselves if 
again attacked, but must not be the aggressors. 

Shortly after La Salle's first visit, one branch of 
the Miamis placed themselves in his "Colonie," sixty 
leagues distant from the river St. Joseph, because of 
having had trouble with those who served the Recol- 
lets who were brought to the river St Joseph by 
La Salle. That the new village was at Maramech, 
west of the boundary defined by the Iroquois, seems 
probable because the Miamis would there be better 
shielded from those terrible invaders. 

It was "out of the frying-pan into the fire" with 
the Foxes. The Iroquois had pledged themselves 
to go no farther westward than the rivers I have 
mentioned as limiting their boundary, which fact 
gave the Foxes, now out of one danger, an oppor- 
tunity to renew the old quarrel with the Sauteurs, 
which was not a marked success. 

The Foxes formed a party of thirty young war- 
riors, who captured twelve Sauteur women and 
children, and the news was at once carried to the set- 
tlements at Green Bay, where the French were asked 
to go and request the Foxes to send back an Ottawa 
and a Sokokis girl, but to keep the others until 
were brought back some of the children of that tribe 
that they had held several years. A Sauteur chief 
who was present was shocked by the refusal of the 
Foxes to return some of the prisoners. The French, 
in their march, met two of their comrades whom the 
Iroquois had wished to kill, but who had saved 
themselves. When the French arrived at the vil- 
lage of the Foxes they called an assembly. One of 
the Frenchmen spoke: 



i 5 6 LOST MARAMECH 

"Foxes, listen to what I have to say. I have 
learned that you have a strong desire to eat the flesh 
of the French, and I have come to satisfy you with 
these young men whom you see; put us in your ket- 
tles and satiate yourselves upon our flesh." Draw- 
ing his sword he threw open his garments. "My 
flesh is salty; I do not believe, if you eat it, it can 
pass the knot of your neck without causing you to 
vomit." 

The first chief of war responded: "What child 
would eat his father, from whom he has received 
life? Thou hast given the day to us when thou to 
us hast brought the iron [guns] and now thou sayest 
we would eat thee." 

The Frenchman replied: "Thou hast reason to 
say to me that I have given the day to thee, for 
when I came in thy village all were miserable as 
people who had nowhere to dwell and who wandered 
to the farthest distances in the land. At present 
you live in repose and enjoy the clear sky that I 
have procured thee; you enjoy the light that I have 
procured, and still you wish to trouble the earth, 
kill the Sauteurs and subdue those that I have 
adopted before thee — vomit your prey; rend my 
body which you wish to put in your kettles, but fear 
the odor that shall from it arise, for you may excite 
some vapors that shall form angry waves that will 
sweep over your village which will be in one 
moment consumed by the fire and lightning that 
come from them, and that will be followed by a 
hail that shall fall with such impetuosity upon your 
families that they cannot be sheltered from it. Do 
you remember your ancestors and yourselves, who 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 157 

have been vagabonds to the present time? Are you 
weary of well doing? Vomit! Believe your father 
who does not wish to abandon you unless you com- 
pel him to do so. Listen to my words and I will 
reconcile myself to the bad affairs that you have 
made with the Sauteurs." 

In Perrot's manuscript is found a proposed 
address setting forth his ideas as to how the various 
western tribes should have been approached in 
regard to their intertribal relations, more partic- 
ularly concerning the Foxes: 

"Listen, my children," said our Father Onontio; 
"listen," said he; "I am pained to hear, all these 
years, what has been told of the carnage that has 
taken place in your countries, resulting in the 
destruction of one another; I am horrified because 
of the blood spilled and that which will be spilled. 
Unless I put an end to it, I am assured that you will 
soon destroy yourselves and that I shall have chil- 
dren no more. I love your people and your fam- 
ilies, and I wish them to live. 

"Thou Ottawa, thou makest war against the Fox, 
who has given thee life, having taken thy part 
against the Miami, when thou wentest in the hunt 
at the headwaters of the Black river, for he [the 
Miami] would have killed thee but for him [the 
Fox] and the Kickapous, who were opposed to his 
[the Miami's] designs. 

"Thou Sauteur, in the same time thou hast saved 
the life of all the nation that was in Mamekagan 
when Chingounabe invited the Miamis to attend his 
dog feast. He intended to betray and devour thee, 
if the Fox that thou regardest as thine enemy had 



158 LOST MARAMECH 

consented to thy destruction. Thou hast, however, 
killed him; he had only avenged himself when thou 
compelled him to do it; but he has restored to thee 
willingly thy people, and thou hast his people yet. 

"Thou Miami, thou knowest that the Fox has 
never gone to war against thee; he has defended 
thee and has aided thee to avenge thyself when thou 
hast been defeated by the Sioux. 

"Thou . . . ,* thou art not ignorant that thy 
chiefs died of sickness when the Fox was [gone] to 
avenge the Miamis of the Crane, who would have 
been defeated by the Sioux, if he [the Fox] had not 
had pity; he has won them by presents and has 
confirmed the alliance which thou hadst contracted 
with him [the Sioux], with whom thou hast never 
been in war, no more than with the Kickapou, who 
has visited every village with him; whereas the other 
Miamis have killed the relatives of thy people this 
winter. 

"Thou Illinois, thou never madest war against the 
Fox, neither against the Kickapou; thou hast, how- 
ever, attacked him when he was at Detroit; he has 
defended himself; you have killed one another; 
thou hast avenged thyself when he was defeated at 
Detroit, and when he returned to his country; he 
took one of thy chiefs, whom he has sent back, and 
thou hast killed his deputy; thou shouldst be satis- 
fied. 

"Thou Pottawatomie, thy nation is half Sacs; the 
Sacs are in part Foxes; thy cousins and thy brothers- 
in-law are Foxes and Sacs. Pirimon and Ouene- 

* Illegible in the manuscript. Mascoutins are thought to be 
the people referred to. 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 



159 



mek, who are thy chiefs, and who mourn the 
murders which have been committed in thy families, 
— they are Sacs. I love you all, says your father 
Onontio. I will extinguish the fires of war, which 
are so brilliant that, besides all of you who have 
been consumed by them, they will not fail to con- 
sume, from all quarters, the remainder, if I do not 
extinguish them. 

"Thou Huron, be content; thou hast lost thy 
people, but thou shouldst be avenged [be satisfied 
with what vengeance thou hast already had]. Thou 
art too cruel; remember what thou hast done against 
me and against my children, thy allies, since I have 
taken up for thee against all, and since I have pro- 
tected thee, and if I had not protected thee, thou 
wouldst be no more. Thou hast wished to betray 
me on many occasions; and I have pardoned thee, 
in order to gain thy gratitude. 

"Thou Ottawa, thou hast killed the Miamis at 
Detroit, who were under my protection; thou hast 
assassinated some Frenchmen there at the same 
time, and elsewhere. 

"Thou Sauteur, thou hast, in like manner, killed 
some Frenchmen; thou also hast killed some Mis- 
sisakis. I have grieved for my dead, but I have not 
chastened thee; and thou Miami, also; I have par- 
doned all. 

"And very far from avenging myself, I have 
defended thee against the Iroquois, who was one of 
my faithful children that thou hast killed, and who 
has never caused trouble since the last peace which 
I succeeded in making between you, without which 
he would have destroyed you all For he was capa- 



160 LOST MARAMECH 

ble of destroying all, without asking from me any- 
thing but my will and consent; on the contrary, to 
defend you, I have not only furnished you with 
arms but, more, with my young men, who have 
been entirely destroyed by you. I have even 
defended you against the Fox, who has never killed 
any of my people. 

"I wish, my children, that this war might be 
ended, and if any one does not obey me, I declare 
myself against him and for the Fox. 

"All the nations would have consented to peace. 
This is why we ought not to fear to reproach them 
for their vices any more than for [to reproach them 
on account of] the services that we have rendered 
them; for the character of the savage is not to for- 
get the good that has been done him [and we have 
aided them] as opportunities have occurred. 

"These, Your Highness, are my humble opinions, 
which would have led to success if I had accom- 
panied M. De Louvigney. 

"As to the Foxes, I would welcome the end of 
them." 




Joseph Tisson, the interpreter, and child. 
Tamn Reservation. 



CHAPTER X 

While De Nonville was Governor of New France, 
in his attempts to defeat the Iroquois he allied the 
western tribes. A body of the Miamis was stationed 
at Chicago, and somewhere near the French had a 
fort and trading-post. At one time three men were 
heard approaching the post crying that the Miamis 
were all dead; that the Iroquois had defeated them 
at Chicagon (Chicago). They were requested to 
enter the fort and, given an opportunity to smoke 
and rest, they gradually regained their composure. 
After they had eaten they were questioned as to the 
news and said: "When you made presents this 
autumn to Apichagan, chief of the Miamis, he 
departed the next day to inform all the Miamis and 
our people of what you had said; he made them 
consent to follow you. Two Frenchmen sent some 
presents to the Miamis to say to them that Onontio* 
wished that they establish themselves at Chicago. 
Apichagan opposed this and said that his people 
had all been killed at the river of St. Joseph, when 
La Salle established them at that place. The French 
sent some of their people, who declared to Apicha- 
gan, on the part of Onontio, that he would abandon 

* When Montmagne, one of the early Governors, reached 
Canada, his name was explained to the natives as meaning 
Great Mountain, and hence after that time each Governor was 
known as Onontio, that being the native word for such a phys- 
ical characteristic. 

161 



162 LOST MARAMECH 

them if they did not obey him. He requested them 
to follow Perrot, who had given them life and had 
prevented the slaughter of many of their families at 
Chicago. The Miamis having arrived at Chicago, 
the French requested them to hunt there and return 
to the fort of the French to supply their needs. 
Some of the Miamis who had not arrived at Chicago 
were surprised by the Iroquois. A chief was taken 
who, in his song of death, demanded of his enemies 
that they spare his life; he assured them that he 
would deliver his village to them if they would per- 
mit him to live.* Some hunters, members of these 
families who^had been to Chicago, returning to 
their homes perceived afar a great encampment, and 
they judged that their people had been defeated 
and had fled to the fort to carry the news to the 
French. The Miamis who were there consulted 
whether they should make an assault or take flight. 
A Sokoki who was among them warned them not to 
trust the French, for they were friends of the 
Iroquois. The Miamis believed him and fled in all 
directions. The Iroquois came, conducted by the 
Miami chief who had [offered to betray his village, 
but found only four Frenchmen who had just arrived 
from the Illinois, and attacked them. The Iroquois 
pursued those who had fled from the village and 
captured all the women and children. 

The news of the defeat of the Miamis at Chicago 
spread among the tribes, and a hundred Miami, 
Mascoutin, Pottawatomie, and Fox warriors pur- 
sued the Iroquois and attacked them, tomahawk in 

* Such cowardice was so uncommon among the Indians that 
what is charged seems incredible. 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 163 

hand, with such fury that they killed a hundred of 
them, retook half of their people and scattered the 
Iroquois, who would have been defeated if the pur- 
suit had continued. (This is possibly the affair 
mentioned by La Hontan, II. , 167.) 

The commandant in the west (La Potherie tells 
us), presumably Perrot, came from his trading-post 
among the Sioux and sent a tomahawk to each of 
the various tribes, requesting them to join and 
strike the Iroquois. On his way from his fort he saw 
smoke which he believed was from an army of the 
allies going against the Sioux. He met the Mas- 
coutin chief, who was on his way to find him, and 
was informed that the Foxes, Kickapoos, and other 
people of The Bay had come to pillage his supplies 
in order to get arms to aid them in their attacks on 
the Sioux. 

They had resolved to force the fort and kill all the 
French if they made the least resistance. Three 
spies were sent, who made the pretext of trade, and 
reported, upon returning, that they had seen only 
six Frenchmen, the commandant not being there. 
Two more spies came the next day, ostensibly for 
the purpose of trade. The French had taken the 
precaution to put some loaded guns near the doors 
of their cabins. In order that the savages might be 
deceived as to the number of people, and to make 
the deception more nearly complete, the French 
changed their clothes occasionally. The savages 
asked how many Frenchmen there were, and were 
answered that there were forty, and that they were, 
at that moment, awaiting others from the buffalo 
hunt across the river. Seeing all the arms in readi- 



164 LOST MARAMECH 

ness, the savages were led to reflect. The French- 
men told them that they were always ready in case 
the savages came to attack them and, being on a 
great trail, they always held themselves in readiness, 
knowing the savages to be very inconstant, and told 
them to bring the chiefs of each nation, as they had 
something to say to them, but that if they ap- 
proached the fort in large numbers they would be 
fired upon. Six of these chiefs came, who cast 
away their bows and arrows at the doors, and were 
permitted to enter. Seeing all the arms in readi- 
ness they asked the commandant if he feared his chil- 
dren. He replied that he was not embarrassed, as 
he knew how to slay others. He told them that the 
Great Spirit had informed him of their designs, 
saying that they wished to carry away his effects in 
order to go against the Sioux, and intended to put 
him in the kettle. They admitted this was true and 
hoped, as he was a father to them, that he would be 
indulgent. 

Next morning the army of savages approached 
and claimed they wished to trade, but the French- 
men required one of the chiefs to mount the door of 
the fort and tell them not to advance or they would 
be killed; that the Spirit had informed Metaminens 
[Perrot] of their resolution. 

This trouble over, Perrot was then free to under- 
take to assemble recruits to go against the Iroquois, 
some of whom were Foxes, some were Miamis of 
Maramech, and some Pepikokias, then living near 
the mouth of the Pestekouy (the Fox river of Illi- 
nois), some Mangokekis, west of the same river, 
some Piankeshaws, east of the river, and some Kila- 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 165 

taks, from the south side of the Illinois river. Some 
of the latter would have perished of hunger had not 
others had a sufficient supply to aid them. 

It required many presents, however, to turn these 
people against the dreaded Iroquois, the common 
enemy. Very far from keeping their promise, they 
amused themselves at buffalo hunts for a whole 
month; the Foxes and Mascoutins were at war with 
the Sioux, hoping to terrify the latter so that they 
would not dare approach their villages while they 
were making war on the Iroquois. 

Perrot was made a prisoner by Mascoutins, who 
were of one of the nations that had been particularly 
benefited by him in matters of trade. They had 
sent to him asking that he come and trade at their 
village. He complied, accompanied by a Potta- 
watomie chief and six Frenchmen. No sooner were 
they there than the Mascoutins seized his merchan- 
dise. It was the custom among the savages to feed 
well the prisoners who were to be burned, in order 
that they might have strength to endure the tortures 
of fire longer. One of the chiefs chided, saying that 
they should care better for him. They wished to 
sacrifice him to the shades of a number of their 
people who had been killed on several occasions, 
they said, for he had been the author of the deaths. 
A warrior informed him that he was to be burned at 
the rising of the sun, on the prairies; that he was a 
sorcerer and had been the cause of the death of fifty 
of their people to satisfy the shades of two French- 
men whom the Mascoutins had killed at Chicago. 
He was told that if the French had merely avenged 
themselves, nothing would have been said, for 



1 66 LOST MARAMECH 

"blow should be paid for blow"; but that he had 
been too cruel. 

He awaited his fate calmly, but the Pottawatomie 
chief, fearing for himself, sang his death song. 
Perrot was taken from the village the next day with 
the other Frenchmen, they complaining bitterly of 
their fate. While this was taking place the Mas- 
coutins busied themselves dividing Perrot's mer- 
chandise. 

It resulted, however, that Perrot was not burned, 
but made his escape; how has not been told us 
except by Tailhan, who says that he was rescued by 
the Foxes. 

A Miami who had a Mascoutin wife saw the war- 
riors leaving with Perrot, and immediately gave 
information to his nation that the Frenchman had 
been pillaged and burned by the Mascoutins. The 
chief of the Miamis was then engaged in war with 
the Iroquois, but his tribe did not wait a moment, 
after his arrival, to avenge the supposed death of 
Perrot. The nations at The Bay were also in- 
formed, and they wished to raise the tomahawk and 
chastise the Mascoutins. 

This being, however, the time of the troubles with 
the Iroquois, Perrot turned their warlike spirit to 
account in that direction. 

The Miamis of Maramech captured eight Loups, 
to whom the English had given many presents. 
They gave four of these prisoners to the command- 
ant of the branch of the Miami tribe living on the 
river St. Joseph, and destined the others for the 
French, their friends, who had rendered them sev- 
eral services. De Louvigney sent thirty-eight men 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 167 

in quest of these people, with an order for them to 
put the prisoners "in the kettle" (a figure of speech 
meaning to kill, and sometimes, as well, to eat), if 
they were not able to get them to Mackinac; but the 
Miamis of the St. Joseph river had taken them 
away. The Frenchmen presented the Miamis of 
Maramech with fifty pounds of powder to engage 
them in their interests. These Miamis marched to 
the number of two hundred, but separated into four 
parties after having divided the powder among 
them. 

The Miamis who remained at the village of Mara- 
mech made a solemn feast next day by order of the 
great chief, to obtain from the Great Spirit a fortu- 
nate return of the warriors. They dressed an altar, 
on which they put some bearskins, of which they 
daubed the heads with green earth. As they passed 
before the altar they bowed and knelt. All of the 
people were obliged to assist in this ceremony. 
Jugglers and the medicine-men, and those who 
called themselves sorcerers, formed the first rank; 
they held in hand their medicine-bags and their 
implements of jugglery; they threw a spell over 
those they wished to have die, who feigned to fall 
dead; but the medicine-men put drugs between their 
lips and resuscitated them by shaking them rudely. 
The one that could make the most grotesque figure 
drew the most admiration. They danced to the 
sound of the drum and gourd rattles; they formed 
into two parties, as enemies, and attacked and 
defeated in turn. They had some skins of water- 
adders and otters which, they said, produced death 
to those on whom was thrown this spell, and they 



1 68 LOST MARAMECH 

brought to life all that they wished. The master of 
the ceremony, accompanied by two old men and two 
women at his side, marched with gravity while going 
to announce, at the doors of all the cabins of the 
village, that the ceremony would immediately com- 
mence. They laid hands upon all they met, who 
thanked them by dropping to the knee and embra- 
cing their legs. One saw nothing but dancing, and 
heard nothing but the howls of the dogs that were 
killed for the sacrificial feast. The bones of those 
they had eaten were then burned, as at a holocaust. 
The persons who were killed and resuscitated 
danced separately, while some remained as if dead. 
Men, women, and girls, and young persons of the 
age of twelve years, fell dead and were resuscitated. 
The jugglers, the medicine-men and the sorcerers 
were each fitted out with their finest ornaments. 
Some thrust sticks a foot and a half in length, and 
the size of the thumb, down their throats and simu- 
lated death; but medicine was given them that 
brought them to life and set them dancing again. 
Others swallowed the feathers of swans and eagles, 
which they withdrew and then fell as dead and, in 
turn, were resuscitated also. One recognized in 
their movements nothing more than artifices most 
diabolical. The wealth of all the people was divided 
among the jugglers. 

The ceremonies continued day and night for five 
days. They sought the cabins at night and the pub- 
lic places during the day, marching always in pro- 
cession. It was represented to them that what they 
did was criminal before God. They responded that, 
on the contrary, this was the proper means to influ- 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 169 

ence the Great Spirit to deliver the enemy to their 
young people, who would perish in war if this 
solemnity were not observed. 

It resulted that one of the parties returned, at the 
end of thirty days, and had killed several Iroquois 
without having lost one of their people. They 
asked the French: "Believe you that the Great 
Spirit has listened to our prayers?" The other 
parties returned somewhat later with several prison- 
ers and the Loups that the Miamis of St. Joseph 
had held. 

Does it seem possible that where now, on sum- 
mer nights, laughter echoes midst the maples and 
the whip-poor-wills mock the music at the camp- 
fires, where Sylvan Spring, like a well-filled goblet, 
pours Nature's nectar o'er its brim, where now to 
sigh is madness, and where, within the hearing of 
the dullest ears, the bells and choirs call to lesser 
superstitious practices, all this took place? 

The Mascoutins at last wished to draw Perrot to 
them, and one of the tribe arrived at Maramech and 
assured him that they would satisfy him for the 
loss of his merchandise. The Miamis, who knew 
that the Mascoutins wished only to capture him, 
brusquely demanded of them if they believed he 
was a dog that one could chase away when he 
troubled them, and make return by a caress. 

The Mascoutins had learned that all of the people 
of The Bay, the Miamis and others, had wished to 
avenge the insult they had offered, and sent two 
deputies to pray Perrot not to depart from Mara- 



170 LOST MARAMECH 

mech, where they wished to speak to him. Their 
chief came, with several warriors, and entered the 
cabin of the Miamis, where they assembled many of 
the^ principal men of the nation and some Kicka- 
poos; the latter had brought a slave and three chil- 
dren, whom they made sit before Perrot. The 
Mascoutins said that they had only borrowed the 
guns, at the same time presenting the slave. They 
made various other presents, accompanied by 
remarks ^to the effect that they had only taken the 
merchandise on credit. 

Perrot did not succeed in getting the Miamis of 
Maramech nor the small branch of the Miami tribe 
that had established itself on the west side of the 
Mississippi river, near the lead mines, to join those 
located on the St. Joseph river. They did not feel 
safe where they were, for they did not take any 
stock in the promise made by the Iroquois that 
their westward excursions should be limited by the 
Chicago river. (La Potherie, II., 316.) 

The ambition of the Iroquois was still ultimately 
to destroy the Illinois, as they had long sought to 
do, and hence, in order to allay the fears of those 
who would otherwise ally themselves with the Illi- 
nois, they declared the limit of their claims of pos- 
session to be as later shown on Jeffrey's map of 
1777, by a dotted line. On Gibson's map is this 
legend: "The pecked line extending by the Illinois 
through Quadaghe cross the Lakes, Illinois and 
Hurons, shows the bounds of the territories of the 
Six Nations, which by deed of sale they surrendered 
to the down of Great Britain in 1701, and renewed 
in 1726 and 1744." 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 171 

An envoy was sent to tell the people of the Miami 
village on the other side of the Mississippi river, 
that the Governor of New France had something 
important to tell them. They were informed that 
they were useless to the Governor in the place 
where they were; that they were not provided with 
munitions of war and would not be able to get any, 
if the Iroquois should turn their tomahawks against 
them; and that they ought to understand that the 
Sioux might easily fall upon them also, should the 
Sioux wish to avenge their dead against the Mas- 
coutins. 

The people of this village "promised to place 
their fires at Maramech." They would have placed 
them on the river St. Joseph, at the solicitation of 
the chief of that region, but he refused to give them 
powder and ball. He certainly did stand in his own 
light, as they declared, and it is probable that this 
branch of the Miamis believed themselves safer at 
Maramech, on the Fox river of Illinois, beyond the 
line limiting the claims of the Iroquois. 

The Mascoutins had failed in their stroke against 
the Sioux, with whom they were at that time at 
war, and fear that the branch of Miamis on the Mis- 
sissippi might ally themselves with the Sioux 
against them induced the Mascoutins to send one 
of their chiefs to Maramech to sound carefully the 
Miamis of that region as to any possible intentions 
against them. 

The affairs among the tribes were decidedly 
mixed. The Foxes had received some Iroquois 
prisoners from the Miamis of Chicago. Policy pre- 
vented them from burning these captives, for they 



i 7 2 LOST MARAMECH 

hoped that, in case the Sioux came against them, 
they could throw themselves, with their families, 
on the Iroquois and, with these prisoners, pave the 
way to a peaceful union. 

In their efforts to get the Miamis of Maramech to 
abandon their fires, the Governor finally commanded 
that they be given powder in order that their fam- 
ilies might subsist during the journey to the St. 
Joseph, and to kill any Iroquois whom they might 
encounter. 

Returning to the Foxes, La Potherie tells us that 
at one time they built a new village of more than 
six hundred cabins and invited the Sacs, then near 
them on the Wisconsin river, to share it with them. 
The Sacs sent deputies, accompanied by some 
Frenchmen, to investigate and consider the pro- 
priety of accepting the invitation. They found the 
people destitute. The Foxes had only about five 
or six hatchets, all without edges, which served 
each family, in turn, to cut wood; scarcely had they 
an awl or knife to each cabin. They cut their 
meat with the flints of their arrows, and scaled fish 
with clam shells. The misery of the people was 
great enough to excite compassion among the 
French. They were so thin that whenever they had 
eaten their fill they appeared malformed; in feature 
they were disagreeable, of voice brutal, and of 
visage bad. They acted as though they thought the 
French should give up to them all they had; the 
fact was that they had but few beaver skins with 
which they found it possible to buy anything. Such 
was often the impoverished condition reached by 
these people. (La Potherie, II., 98.) 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 173 

The custom among the western tribes to heal 
wounds, as they termed it, by means of presents, is 
well shown in the case of a Sac at this Fox village, 
who was bathing in the river, when a Frenchman 
came and bantered the Sac to let him shoot one of 
his arrows. The Sac, having a bit of "cloth, held it 
as a target, but the Frenchman's aim was not good 
and, as the Sac was not quick enough to \dodge, the 
arrow struck his shoulder and he yelled that the 
Frenchman had killed him. Perrot ran to him, 
pulled out the arrow and made him a present of a 
knife, a little vermilion, with which to beautify his 
face, and a piece of tobacco. The presents were 
sufficient to appease him, but his comrades prepared 
to avenge the injury and sought the Frenchman, but 
were dissuaded by the Sac, who shouted: "Where 
are you going? I am cured. Metaminens has 
healed me by this ointment that you see on the 
wound, and I am no longer suffering any injury." 

With these people the name given by the parent 
to a child was usually ignored as the individual 
advanced in years, and special names given, often 
prompted by fancy. Once accepted the name 
remained, for a time at least, by common consent. 
So it was that Perrot, the friend of all northern 
tribes, was known as Metaminens, the word mean- 
ing "Little Corn." May not the title have been 
chosen because, of all the French who came among 
them, he best suited their needs and fancies, and to 
him they gave the name of that variety of the pride 
of their fields which, when parched, served best 
their needs when on long war excursions? 

Trade had given the Hurons advantages that were 



174 LOST MARAMECH 

soon sought by other tribes, some of whom had been 
driven west of the Mississippi by the Iroquois. 
The Miamis, Mascoutins, Kickapoos, and fifty fam- 
ilies of Illinois also chose to be near the French 
post at Green Bay, because they needed knives and 
hatchets, such as they had seen in the hands of the 
Hurons. They chose to make their fields about 
seventy miles south of one of the villages of the 
Foxes. This probably placed them some distance 
below the head waters of the river then known as 
Pestekouy. The Illinois and Miamis had long 
made their fields and hunted over the surrounding 
prairies and had run the woods that bordered the 
beautiful river, and the bones of their fathers called 
them back to their old homes on its shores. To 
them eventually came the French, led by Perrot, 
accompanied by some Mascoutins. A Miami 
among them, owning a gun, was sent before to 
announce the coming, which he did by firing within 
earshot of the village. They were welcomed by an 
old man and woman, who carried an earthen pot of 
newly-prepared succotash; it was in the season of 
the withering of the silks of the corn and when the 
beans were most tender. How the French must 
have relished the luxury brought from the native 
cornfields and gardens that, mixed and boiled, we 
know to be so toothsome! We well may thank 
those crude people who taught our mothers to pre- 
pare the primitive dish, one of the most enjoyable 
served to the hungry. 

The old man bore a calumet cut out of the red 
stone brought from the pipestone quarries of Minne- 
sota, its long stem ornamented with the heads of the 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 175 

brilliant woodpeckers and, at its middle, a bunch of 
red feathers. When he saw Perrot, the leader of the 
French, he presented the calumet. Holding it to 
the sun he uttered words seemingly addressed to 
all of the many spirits adored by his people. As if 
addressing the god of day, in his course, he held it 
first to the east and then to the reddening west. 
Many evolutions followed, all seemingly accom- 
panied by words of prayer and seeming praise that 
the French had been permitted to come among 
them. A buffalo-robe, "its hair soft as silk," 
was spread on the grass and Perrot and his com- 
panion requested to sit. The old man failing, on 
account of the dampness, to get fire to light the 
calumet by rubbing two pieces of wood together, 
Perrot astonished them all with his steel, flint, and 
punk. To them the steel seemed to be a spirit — a 
new one to be added to their already too long list. 
All then smoked and a feast of soup was prepared, 
made from dried meats, and followed by a dessert 
of the juice of stalks of ripening corn. 

Passing on, frequent halts were made until finally 
they reached a hill, on the slope of which was a 
great village composed of various tribes. The chief 
of the Miamis met them at the shore, at the head 
of three thousand men, calumet in hand. A chief 
of war raised Perrot on his shoulders and, accom- 
panied by the musicians, carried him to the village. 
This village must have been one of the many that 
were located in the "Colonie du Sr. de La Salle," 
the principal one of which was Maramech. The 
Mascoutins who had brought him turned him over 
to the Miamis to be cared for, but the latter were 



176 LOST MARAMECH 

loth to deprive them of the company of the French- 
man. Perrot was given fifty guards to prevent 
annoyance by the crowds of curious people. A feast 
was given, served on wooden dishes that looked 
more like troughs than plates. The foods were 
soaked with buffalo fat. Particular attention was 
paid to Perrot by the attendants who, presumably, 
expected ample rewards. The Frenchman pre- 
sented a gun and kettle, and in an address praised 
the people, particularly in regard to their physical 
characteristics. Finally he cast more than a dozen 
awls and knives, saying: "Leave your awls of 
bone; those of the French will serve you better, 
and these knives will be more useful to you in dress- 
ing your beavers and cutting your meats than are 
your own made of stone. " The Miamis apologized, 
regretting that they had not beavers upon which 
they might feast the Frenchmen. 

An alliance of all these tribes was brought about 
by the interposition of Perrot, and at the end of 
eight days a feast was made to thank the sun for 
lighting his way to their village. In his cabin the 
great chief of the Miamis had erected an altar, upon 
which he had caused to be put his medicine-bag in 
which his charms were carried. Perrot, not approv- 
ing the ceremonies, said that he worshipped a God 
who forbade him to eat anything sacrificed to evil 
spirits. They were greatly surprised by this refusal 
and requested him, after removing their charms, to 
then eat of what had been prepared. The chief also 
prayed Perrot to promise the true God that hence- 
forth he would give Him preference because his own 
god had not taught them to make hatchets and ket- 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 177 

ties and all things of the kinds brought by the 
French; and that he would hope, in worshipping 
Him, to obtain all the knowledge that the French 
had. 

All of these tribes deliberated in council whether, 
having few furs and being short of provisions for 
their families, they should go with the French to 
Montreal. Deciding to go, they made great prepa- 
rations, beginning with a solemn feast. The even- 
ing before their departure they fired volleys of 
musketry in the village. Three men also sang all 
the night without ceasing, invoking, from time to 
time, different gods. They sang to Michapous, the 
great hare, their most influential god, then to the 
god of the lakes, of the rivers and of the forests, 
praying the winds, the thunder, the storms, and the 
tempests to be favorable to them during their 
voyage. 

In the morning the village crier called the men to 
the cabins where the feast was to be served. There 
came the singers of the night before, the first one 
stationed at the door of the cabin, the second at 
the center, and the third at the extreme end, armed 
with quivers, bows, and arrows, the face and all the 
body of each blackened with coals from the fires, 
and each performed his part. They sang their 
songs, each in turn. Twenty nude and painted 
young men entered, decorated with crow feathers 
and belts of otter skins. Vigorous dancing fol- 
lowed; so vigorous, in fact, as to frighten the women 
and children. Sixty volunteered to go with the 
Frenchmen, and later seventy more joined them at 
Sault Ste. Marie. 



1 78 LOST MARAMECH 

While these were passing the portage at the head 
of the Ottawa river, on their way to Montreal, they 
were requested by the Nipissings to pay toll; in 
fact, a large part of their furs were required to gain 
permission to pass. This incident shows that the 
Foxes along the Wisconsin river were not alone in 
exacting toll. 

Perrot repaired, on another mission of friendship, 
to the Miamis at Chicago. We learn from early 
accounts that the Miamis had a village on the river 
of that name, and it is probable, several of them. 
This tribe was also, in part, located near the Illinois 
town of Kaskaskia, opposite Fort St. Louis, and 
Maramech was on the great trail that passed directly 
from the Miami and the Illinois villages to Chicago. 

Perrot visited Maramech, as previously stated, as 
a representative of the Governor of New France in 
all matters pertaining to the tribes that were allied 
to the French. During the years that Perrot rep- 
resented the government in the west he visited the 
various Miami tribes, in 1692-3 was at "Malamet" 
(Maramech) on the river Pestekouy (now the Fox 
river of Illinois) and not on the Kalamazoo, as 
supposed by O'Callaghan, who is followed by 
Margry, in Chain of Posts* Neither the birch-bark 
canoes nor dugouts were sufficiently seaworthy to 
cross the lake, and Perrot, to be in the "way' ' between 
the Iroquois and the Algonquin nations, could not 
have been at the Kalamazoo, but plainly on the 
Pestekouy, as is seen by Franquelin's maps of 1684, 
1687, an d 1688, and a score of other old maps. That 

* For a discussion of this subject see ante pages 70-75. 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 179 

great concourses of Indians repaired to the actual 
"Maramech" is evident by relics there found, sug- 
gesting a trading station, and by the great area cov- 
ered by that and possibly both earlier and later 
towns. In 1694 Nicholas Perrot arrived at Mon- 
treal from the west with the Ottawas and farthest 
nations, with ten or twelve canoes of Pottawatomies, 
Sacs, Folles-Avoines (Winnebagoes), Foxes, and 
"Miamis of Maramek." Every one of these tribes 
was from the west side of Lake Michigan, and the 
"Miamis of Maramek" were that branch of the tribe 
that often warred against the Foxes and Sioux, and 
that often joined one or the other. The chief Mes- 
sitonga, a "Miami of Maramek," said: "When the 
Sioux kills me, I bow my head and recollect my 
father has forbidden me to turn my tomahawk 
against him." The fact that Messitonga spoke of 
being killed by the Sioux shows clearly that the 
great barrier, Lake Michigan, was not between him 
and the Sioux; that the Illinois, the Miamis of Chi- 
cago, the Pottawatomies and Menominees, the 
Ottawas, Sacs, and Foxes, Kickapoos, and Mas- 
coutins, most of whom were from time to time at 
war with the Sioux, were not o?i the way (route) 
between him and the English, if he was on the 
Kalamazoo. At a great council held in 1694, where 
the various western tribes were represented, Perrot 
spoke for the "Peflicoqms, who also are Miamis of 
Maramek." The Pepicokias, near neighbors of the 
Miamis of Maramek, were far from the Kalamazoo, 
which is across the lake from the Maramech of 
Franquelin's map; they fished and hunted along the 
beautiful Pestekouy and there chased the buffalo 



i8o LOST MARAMECH 

on all of the five prairies that approached Maramech 
and the river it adorned, which prairies formed a 
great range that was the typical locality of the wild 
ox of America; the river being called the Pestekouy 
by the Algonquins, the name also being that of the 
buffalo. 



CHAPTER XI 

In 1672 Allouez met the "Machkoutench, Mara- 
meg, Kikaboua, Illinoie, Pepikoukia, Kilatika," and 
others, all later mapped in the so-called "Colonie du 
Sr. de La Salle." He says {Relations, 1672): "They 
were deeper in the woods" (from the Mission of St. 
Francis Xavier); but he errs by later saying that 
they were to the "westward," for they were, in fact, 
on the "Pestekouy" river, which heads within a few 
leagues of the site of his ancient mission at Green 
Bay. They were not the Maramegs of the Chip- 
pewa tribe, north of Lake Superior, nor were they 
people of the river "Maramec" of Michigan, for 
unquestionably they were in the very midst of the 
tribes he mentions, where La Salle later found them. 
They were of the "Great Village of Maramek" 
referred to in the reports of 1695 (& Y. Col. Docs., 
IX., 621-624), where we read: "Sieur Perrot pre- 
sented a robe on the part of the Pepicoquis, who 
also are Miamis of Maramek." 

It is believed that the Foxes got more than their 
share of blame for the depredations along the Wis- 
consin river, from the fact that the Mascoutins, their 
near neighbors, often outdid them in acts of barbarity. 
While Perrot was commandant at Maramech these 
tribes united in an attack on the Sioux. Perrot had 
a fort and trading post on the west side of the Mis- 
sissippi, "opposite the lead mines," where the Iowas 
and Sioux came to trade. The Mascoutins and 



182 LOST MARAMECH 

Foxes, being at war with the Sioux, claimed that 
the traders were supplying arms to their enemy, and 
planned to rob Perrot. They prepared an ambush, 
but the dogs of the Frenchmen found them out and 
their plans were defeated. 

The Miamis, almost always bitterly against the 
Iroquois, once raised a band of three hundred war- 
riors and were ready for the warpath. Some French- 
men who were in the vicinity, considering only their 
own immediate interests, made them believe that 
Onontio wished them to hunt the beaver during the 
winter in order to trade the furs for ammunition to 
become better able to go against the common enemy 
during the [coming spring; but the counsel did not 
delay them, and they went and captured twelve 
Iroquois and broke their heads. Finding themselves 
pursued, they killed sixteen on another occasion. 

The Sacs and their allies were wise enough to 
prove their fidelity to Onontio. There were only 
the Foxes and Mascoutins who violated their prom- 
ises; they were infuriated against the Sioux, notwith- 
standing an alliance of peace, and found themselves 
in embarrassments from which they were finally only 
able to extricate themselves by the mediation of the 
French. They were never able to efface from their 
hearts the passion for revenge that dominated them. 
They moved in a body and provoked a combat with 
the Sioux, taking over four hundred prisoners and 
cutting to pieces all who resisted. They practiced 
some unheard-of cruelties on their prisoners, seem- 
ingly to avenge the loss of fifteen warriors, in the 
action, and burned two hundred women and chil- 
dren. Six Frenchmen went to liberate some of the 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 183 

prisoners and, on the way, passed some of the lately 
killed. The Miamis (the branch on the Mississippi 
near the lead mines) were sensibly touched by the 
depredations and, fearing that the Sioux would lay 
violent hands on them, they being the neighbors of 
the Foxes and Mascoutins, they engaged Perrot to 
go to the Sioux and assure them that the Miamis 
had taken no hand in the murders, and to say that 
they would take their part. He went with a party 
of Sioux who came from a reconnoiter against the 
Mascoutins, and who said that they had found, 
about twenty miles above, sixty of their people who 
formed the advance guard, to see if their enemy was 
likely to return the attack. He had no sooner 
approached the Sioux than they bathed him with 
their tears, making cries capable of touching the 
hearts of the most insensible. After having wept a 
half hour they raised him on a bearskin and carried 
him to the top of a hill, upon which they camped. 
He requested them to make his arrival known at the 
French fort. 

Several days after he departed with six Sioux. 
He passed by the village, entirely ruined, where he 
saw the sad remains of the fury of their enemies. 
The lamentations of those who had escaped from 
the cruelties were heard on all sides. 

There chanced to be there at that time a French- 
man who called himself a great captain. In expo- 
sing some pieces of cloth for sale he made the people 
believe that the fabrics would develop an evil spirit 
that would cause the death of those who had 
devoured their families. This trifling enabled him 
to dispose of his merchandise. When the Sioux 



184 LOST MARAMECH 

learned of the arrival of Perrot they conducted him 
to his fort. He took a favorable opportunity to 
present to them the pipe of peace on the part of the 
Miamis, and said to them: 

"Chiefs, I weep the death of your children; the 
Foxes and Mascoutins, in deceiving me, have 
ravished you. Heaven has witnessed their cruelty, 
for which it will punish them. The blood of your 
dead is yet too fresh to warrant you in undertaking 
to avenge them; Heaven wishes that you weep to 
appease it. It has declared against you and will 
not assist if you put yourself in march this summer. 
I have learned that you have assembled to search 
your enemies; they are entrenched in a good fort; 
th6 Foxes have the greater part of the prisoners 
taken from you and will undoubtedly massacre them 
if your warriors appear. I cover your dead* by 
casting to them two kettles; but do not bury the 
kettles with them. I will shelter your dead from 
the storms until Onontio shall have learned of your 
loss; he will determine what he can do for you. I 
shall go to him and do my best to learn from him 
what he can do to restore your children. He can 
only be influenced by compassion. The Miamis, 
who are his children, have obeyed him when, 
through me, he has bidden them to cease making 
war against you; they have learned of your affliction 
and lament your disaster. Behold the pipe of 
peace, which they send you with the word that they 
disapprove of the course taken by the Foxes and 
Mascoutins, and pray you to remember the alliance 

* By this idiom is meant, I soothe your feelings for the loss 
of your dead by casting to their spirits, etc. 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 185 

existing between them and you; if you make up 
parties to go to find the bones of your dead, do not 
mistake and peril their families." 

This speech was followed by very bitter lamenta- 
tions; there were heard only cries and dirges. They 
took brands from the fire with which they burned 
their bodies, without wincing, saying several times 
this word of despair: "Kabato! Kabato! 1 ' 

Perrot, having yielded the time they gave to these 
natural impulses, gave them presents of several 
lengths of tobacco and said: "Smoke, chiefs! 
Smoke, warriors! Smoke peaceably in the hope 
that will return to you some of your wives and chil- 
dren; that I will take them from the jaws of your 
enemies. Place again all your confidence in 
Onontio [Governor Frontenac], who is master of 
the land, from whom you will receive satisfaction." 

Perrot, pausing, cast to them some packages of 
knives and continued: "These knives are to dress 
the beavers and not to scalp men; use them until you 
have news from Onontio." 

The Frenchmen who had stopped them to trade 
in furs, were compelled to come to the fort to dis- 
pose of their merchandise. The one they had 
regarded as a great captain having arrived, they 
sought him and said that since the cloths he had 
sold them had caused the deaths of the Foxes and 
Mascoutins, they wished to sing to him and Perrot 
some of the dirges of the calumet, to lead them to 
aid in their undertakings. "We have resolved," 
said they, "not to leave our dead until we have 
taken a village, the people of which we wish to sac- 
rifice to the shades of our dead. We recognize the 



1 86 LOST MARAMECH 

Miamis as our brothers, and we are going to send 
deputies to make peace with them. We have little 
against the Foxes for taking away our women, for 
they have spared their lives; they have not followed 
them when they have escaped. Ten have returned 
who have said that the Foxes are kindhearted and 
that the latter censured the Mascoutins for having 
eaten all of their captives."* It was reported that 
for one Mascoutin who had been killed in the 
encounter they had burned and put to death twenty 
of the Sioux women and children, and that they 
lived only on the flesh of the prisoners, in the retreat. 
The trader said that he was ready to receive the 
pipe if Perrot would do so. The Sioux assembled 
in the cabin of the war chief, where they performed 
the ceremony of the pipe of war, in which they asked 
the two Frenchmen to smoke. Putting the ashes of 
the tobacco on the ground, they invoked the Great 
Spirit, the sun, the stars, and all the lesser spirits. 
Perrot refused the pipe, saying that as he was only a 
child he could do nothing without the participation 
of his father, Onontio; that he had come to lament 
their dead and to bring the pipe of peace from the 
Miamis who had not participated in the barbarities 
of their enemies; that if they wished to give him a 
pipe to reply to the Miamis, he would carry it to 
them, but that he was not in position to declare 
against the Mascoutins, who would distrust him for 
that reason; that they would not fail to learn that 
one had sung to him the dirge; that he had great 

* To "eat the captives" did not always mean to use them as 
food, but it was often a general term signifying to make way 
with them. 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 187 

reason to complain of their ingratitude because he 
had run great risks of being himself burned among 
them, but that it would be necessary to lay all such 
matters before Onontio. The Sioux admitted that 
he was right and were made to believe that they had 
sufficient reason to hang up the tomahawk until 
Onontio should know all that had passed. 

The Foxes much wished that the Frenchmen 
would bring some of the Sioux to treat for peace, as 
they were much embarrassed by their prisoners; 
they were not ignorant of the fact that their conduct 
was an invasion of the rights of those people. The 
Sioux judged it not judicious to expose their depu- 
ties alone, and so departed, thirty in number, to go 
to the Miami village that was located on the west 
bank of the Mississippi river, opposite the lead 
mine. The Miamis were informed of the coming of 
the [deputies, and forty went to meet them. The 
interview between these people passed with offers of 
services on the part of one and of lamentations on 
the part of the other. The Sioux shed many tears, 
as was their custom on such occasions, on the^ heads 
of the Miamis. The Miamis presented the Sioux 
with one of the girls and a little boy that they had 
taken from the Mascoutins, and covered the dead 
Sioux by giving eight kettles, assuring the Sioux of 
their friendship and asking the chiefs to smoke, 
promising to bring back as many of their women and 
children as they could. 

The Miamis and Sioux had (unknown to the 
Frenchmen) some secret meetings during one night, 
when the Miamis vowed the entire destruction of the 
Mascoutins. 



1 88 LOST MARAMECH 

The Miamis last referred to were informed that 
Onontio wished to communicate with them and they 
came, to the number of twenty-five. They were 
told that they were useless where they were to aid in 
sustaining Onontio in the war against the Iroquois; 
that they would not be given munitions of war if 
they did not also turn their tomahawks against the 
common enemy; that they ought to assure them- 
selves that the Sioux would not fall upon them when 
they should go to take vengeance for their dead 
against the Mascoutins. They promised to "place 
their fires at Maramek." They would have gone to 
the river St. Joseph, where was a large branch of the 
Miami tribe, at the solicitation of the chief there, 
but for the refusal of powder and balls, which gave 
them the bad opinion they had of him. 

The Mascoutins learned of the meeting of the 
Sioux and Miamis, by the interposition of Perrot, 
and they conjectured that Perrot' s act was only the 
result of the recollection of the insults they had 
committed against him. They admitted his loss and 
flattered themselves that, in taking his goods and 
those of the Frenchmen who were with him, they 
had means to enable them to withdraw more easily 
to the Iroquois if they should fall under the fire of 
the nations that had vowed vengeance against them. 
They resolved to surprise Perrot one night, but 
some dogs that had a great antipathy for the 
savages who eat them, caused them to be discovered. 
This obliged Perrot to put himself on the defensive. 
The Mascoutins, who had failed, withdrew without 
undertaking anything further. The fear they had 
that the Frenchmen and Miamis would unite with 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 189 

the Sioux against them, inclined them to send one 
of their chiefs to Maramech to skillfully sound the 
Miamis of that village, as previously stated. He 
there chanced to meet Perrot, with whom he had a 
conference. The savages were commonly politic 
and compliant in their conduct. He said, "Thou 
rememberest," at the same time smiling, "what I 
have done to thee; thou seekest to avenge thyself." 
The controversy continued for some time, but Perrot 
contented himself with reproaching the Mascoutins 
for all their unfaithfulnesses, both in regard to the 
French and the Sioux. 

Some young Mascoutin warriors arrived at the 
cabin while this was taking place, who reported 
that the chief was wanted at the village, as his 
people had discovered the army of the Sioux at the 
lead mine. 

The messengers had no trouble to make them- 
selves heard, and the chief of the village ran about 
calling the scattered people to proceed quickly to 
build a fort. 

When this took place (1694) Na-nan-gous-sis-ta 
and Mac-i-ton-ga were the chiefs of Maramech, one 
of them, no doubt, the war-chief, and it was he who 
commanded the people of Maramech to hasten to 
protect themselves. It seems probable that the 
denizens of the scattered village hastened to the 
hill, found by me to be historic, and there began 
the fort that, thirty years afterward, when finished 
by the Foxes, made a temporary shelter. We shall 
never know to what extent history was made on 
Maramech hill. It is probable that at the eastern 
side, where the ditch is deepest, the Miamis began 



igo LOST MARAMECH 

the work. Fragments of three events only are 
known. Perrot was chosen to command at Mara- 
mech in 1692, and it seems possible that the fort had 
already been commenced at the time his responsi- 
bilities at the village began. 

Soon after the fears of the approach of the Sioux 
had subsided the Frenchmen departed for Green 
Bay and were escorted by many people of the village. 
Before debarking at The Bay the Frenchmen em- 
ployed themselves in successful attempts to influ- 
ence the Foxes to deliver the Sioux prisoners. The 
Foxes were presented two Iroquois by the Miamis 
of Chicagou; policy prevented them from applying 
the torch because they hoped that in case the Sioux 
attacked their village they could throw themselves 
with their families upon the Iroquois, who had long 
wished them to join in a war against the French. 
The Foxes had long known that all the neighboring 
nations wished their entire destruction. The Sau- 
teurs had been pillaged, the French brutalized, and 
all the allies insulted. The Foxes sent a chief with 
the two prisoners, whom they freed, to ask that the 
Iroquois meet them on the river St. Joseph; they 
wished the Mascoutins to join them, in which case 
they would have been able to raise a body of nine 
hundred warriors to march against the Miamis and 
Illinois. A son of the Fox chief, however, was 
friendly to the French, and insisted upon going 
with the many delegates from the western tribes to 
Montreal to confer with the Governor of New 
France. The return of the son of the Fox chief 
from Montreal made a great impression upon the 
tribes, however, very favorable to the French. 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 191 

The Foxes seem sometimes to have been driven 
to drastic measures and arguments most convincing. 
At one time, while a party of French traders were 
in the Sioux country, some Foxes brought some 
hatchets to The Bay for repair. They forced a 
Jesuit brother to put them in order. The chief held 
a naked saber ready to kill him should he object. 
The brother, remonstrating against the act, was 
injured to such an extent that he was laid up for a 
time. With weapons thus in order the chief formed 
an ambuscade and awaited the return of the French 
who had gone to the Sioux. "It is true that all of 
the people of The Bay have reason to complain that 
one carries all sorts of munitions of war to their 
enemies." (La Potherie, II., 245.) 

The French considered the Foxes mere footpads 
when, as a matter of fact, they were only exacting 
toll for the right to pass through their lands and 
across the portage. This tribe early became the 
Ishmaelites of the west. They interrupted the 
western tribes that brought furs to Green Bay, and 
the legitimate traders, as well as the clandestine 
ones, the conreiirs du bois. Complaints were early 
made of the Foxes by the traders when passing 
through their country and, as the mild remedies 
applied by the French for many years had failed to 
cure the evil, arms were soon resorted to. The 
trade with the Sioux was profitable to the French, 
but the great highway was watched by the Foxes 
and Mascoutins, neighbors as well as sometimes 
brothers in iniquity, as the French rightly believed. 
They plundered the French under the pretense that 
the latter were carrying ammunition to the Sioux, 



i 9 2 LOST MARAMECH 

then, as often before, their enemies That the 
French carried ammunition to the Sioux is made 
evident by the very fact that the Sioux got ammu- 
nition, for they could not have procured it in any 
other way. The Spanish could not have approached 
within a thousand miles of L their hunting-grounds, 
and the English were effectually shut out. As early 
as these troubles, more than one of the western 
tribes believed it desirable to leave the country and 
unite with the Iroquois, on account of the fact that 
the Sioux had become armed to such an extent that 
they constituted a greater terror than the Iroquois 
had ever been, even to the Hurons. The remnants 
of the Hurons were long in league with the Iro- 
quois, only as a matter of policy, and it became a 
question, even with the Ottawas, what had best be 
done. The Foxes and Mascoutins, mustering 
twelve hundred warriors at that time, had never 
made a general war upon the French; but as they 
received no aid from the latter, they were contem- 
plating joining the Iroquois and settling near them 
as a matter of protection from the Sioux, who had 
made war upon them.* The opinion then held by 
the French is found in Chain of Posts, p. 121: "The 
Foxes are so called because theirs is a nation deceit- 
ful and malicious. They are situated on a very 
beautiful river and in a very good country for all 
purposes. This nation is powerful, and this is why 
it has become so insolent. I think that if we had 
not had the war with the Iroquois on hand, we would 
have taken measures to humiliate them; they have 
already insulted and pillaged the French several 

* Despatches from Canada, N. Y. C. Doc, IX, 633. 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 193 

times, and otherwise treated them indignantly. 
They do not make war upon the Iroquois, but on 
the contrary, there is some alliance between them. 
It is due to the policy of this enemy of all nations 
of the New World that they have been able to hold 
in neutrality one nation, amidst all the others, that 
would have been able to disturb it much, if it had 
declared war. When affairs go badly, the Foxes 
interfere by undertaking negotiations, and often suc- 
ceed so well that the Iroquois take breath in the 
interval, because there is no nation that estimates 
itself happy that does not pride itself on being 
sought by an enemy that makes all tremble so that 
one does not refuse the peace when demanded. The 
Foxes are slovenly and great thieves, and one must 
watch their feet as well as their hands, for they are 
very adroit with them. They are at war with the 
Sioux, the Saulteux [a branch of the Ojibwas], and 
make telling strokes on their enemies." 

"Chicagou" (Chicago) had become an important 
trading post at the time Cadillac was given com- 
mand at Detroit. He tells us that the word signifies 
"river of the onion," because those vegetables grow 
without care in great quantities. (C/iam of Posts, 
123.) It is readily believed by the dwellers in the 
now great city that such was the origin, for wher- 
ever the native sod of the suburbs is found, adjacent 
to the stream of that name, the wild onion is still 
exceedingly abundant. Along the river was a 
Miami village. Its people were bold, good war- 
riors, and extremely alert. Cadillac tells us that 
they were true bloodhounds, and that they were 
feared by the Iroquois. The nation was numerous, 



i 9 4 LOST MARAMECH 

but divided into several villages because of jealousy 
of the leading men who could not agree and, as they 
were haughty and warlike, they were inclined to 
make war against each other. Because of this divi- 
sion, their enemies destroyed them often; by being 
disunited they risked destruction. Where the 
branches of this tribe were, Cadillac does not say, 
but we know that some were near the great Illinois 
village and others were at "Malamek'' [Maramech]. 
(Chai?i of Posts, p. 72.) It was with these people, 
the Foxes, the Hurons, and others that the Iro- 
quois, in 1694, demanded, through the French, a 
treaty of peace. {Chai?i of Posts, P. LIII.) 

Perrot succeeded in taking representatives of the 
various western tribes to hold council with the Gov- 
ernor of New France, where the chief of the Foxes 
had but few words to offer. "What shall I say to 
my father? I have come all naked [in poverty] 
to see him. I can give him no assurance. The 
Sioux tied my arms and I killed him because he 
began. Father, be not angry with me' for so doing. 
I am come here only to hear you and execute your 
will." In reply to this the Governor said: "Fox, I 
now speak to you; your young men have no sense; 
you have a bad |heart, but mine was beginning to 
be worse disposed than yours, had you not come to 
hear my word and do my will. I was resolved to 
send Mr. de Lamotte with a party of my young men 
on a visit to your village. That would have been 
unfortunate, for no doubt your women and children 
would have been frightened by them. I hope you 
have sense now, and that you will smoke in peace 
out of the same calumet as the French who are 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 



195 



about to go and see you." (N. Y. Col. Doc, IX., 
679.) 

The Governor, to conciliate the Foxes, after the 
distribution of presents among them, said: "No 
more powder and iron [guns] will be conveyed to the 
Sioux, and if my young men carry any thither, I 
will chastise them severely." In 1701 peace was 
again made between the Foxes and all other nations, 
including the Miamis. The pipe of peace was 
smoked, and the deputies from the various tribes 
partook of the feasts prepared by the French. The 
Miamis presented the pipe of peace, and the Gov- 
ernor then said that it should serve thereafter, that 
all who came there willing to maintain peace might 
smoke it. After the speech of the Governor a rep- 
resentative of each nation spoke in reply. Chichi- 
catato, one of the chiefs of the Miamis, said: 
"Father, I have obeyed you by bringing you back 
eight Iroquois prisoners, to do with as you please; 
had I canoes I would have brought more, although 
I do not see here any of my people in the hands of 
the Iroquois present. I will bring you those that 
remain, if you wish it, or I shall open the door to 
them that they may return." Miskeounas, chief of 
the Foxes, said: "I have no prisoners to surrender 
to you, father, but I thank you for the clear sky 
[the new peace] you give the whole world. For 
myself I will never lose this light." 

We shall soon see how well this declaration of 
peace with the Foxes was kept by the French. The 
peace established among these tribes, by the influ- 
ence of the Governor, was none too soon. The 
Piankeshaws, a branch of the Miamis, having been 



iq6 LOST MARAMECH 

defeated by the Sioux and the Iowas, had united 
with the Kickapoos, Mascoutins, Foxes, and others, 
a year or two previous, with the intention of aven- 
ging the injuries committed by the Sioux. Follow- 
ing this, some or all of the Foxes united with the 
Sacs, Pottawatomies, and others, and, passing up the 
Mississippi river, encountered five Canadians, whom 
they wounded, robbed, and left destitute with the 
exception of a poor gun and five or six charges of 
powder. The Canadians were on their way to trade 
with the tribes at the mouth of the Illinois river. If 
there was any pillaging of the French, or interfer- 
ence of trade, on any of the routes leading from 
Canada to Louisiana, the Foxes usually took a 
hand. Their depredations became worse after 
about the year 1700. Le Sueur, who established a 
trading post among the Sioux and was getting his 
supplies by the way of the Great Lakes, received 
attentions from the Foxes and others along the 
Fox river of Wisconsin. About 1703 a merchant of 
Montreal despatched an expedition to the country 
of the Sioux to join Le Sueur. The value of the 
supplies was very great, and it was pillaged by the 
Foxes. 

Heading near the Wisconsin river, and wandering 
through a rich level country, is the Fox river. The 
lips of tradition are silent as to the people who had 
already left tumuli along the bank when Europeans 
first visited the region. The great area of small 
lakes and ponds invited waterfowl and fur-bearing 
animals, and the rich grasses of the broad prairies 
made the region the home of the deer and buffalo. 
Man had long before been there; a superior race, or 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 197 

a superior branch of some of the western tribes, had 
raised a mound on the north bank of the river, near 
Winnebago lake, known as "Great Butte des Morts" 
(hill of the dead). Tradition's echo tells that it was 
a burial-place, as in fact the presence of human 
bones shows. One tradition informs us that "the 
earth has not only covered the bodies of warriors 
slain in battle, but it has been raised up as a record 
of events disastrous to the Fox tribe of Indians, 
whose principal village, at an early period, was 
near this place on the Fox river. This mound is 
nevertheless to be considered as a modern structure, 
because the time of its erection, or at least the event 
which it commemorates, can be referred to, if not 
in correct history, at least as traditionary accounts. 
Here, it is said, the Foxes had their stronghold, and 
from this point not only were depredatory excur- 
sions made against the neighboring tribes, but the 
early French traders were compelled to submit to 
exactions from these Indians on their voyages along 
the Fox river. 

"It thus became necessary for the French to 
inflict such a punishment on the Fox tribe as should 
be the means of deterring them, in the future, from 
their depredations on the traders. Accordingly, in 
1703, an expedition under Captain Morand was sent 
from Mackinaw against them, and in the attack 
upon them by surprise, at this, their stronghold, 
more than one thousand of their warriors perished; 
and the great 'hill of the dead' was raised over 
their bones by the survivors who, in a few years, 
left this part of the country and removed farther to 
the west. Other accounts differ in regard to the 



i 9 8 LOST MARAMECH 

time when the great battle was fought, which nearly 
destroyed the tribe and caused their removal; but all 
agree that the mound raised received its significant 
name from such an event." (Smith's Hist. Wis., 
III., 362.) 

I have found nothing definite in regard to this 
battle, and it is quite probable that the account may 
be a mixture of early and later events, for we are 
told of a similar battle that occurred in 1714. 



CHAPTER XII 

The siege of Detroit has been told by several 
whose accounts vary but little. The only official 
account at hand was that of Du Buisson, the French 
commandant, sent to the Marquis de Vaudreuil, 
which follows (Smith's Hist. Wis., III., 315): 

"As I thought it was of great consequence to 
inform you of the state of this post by express 
canoe, I have requested M. de Vincennes to make 
the voyage, having assured him that this arrange- 
ment would be pleasing to you, persuaded, as I am, 
that you are very solicitous about what passes here. 
The fatigue I undergo day and night in consequence 
of the public and private councils that I hold with 
the Indians preventing me from rendering you a 
detailed account of all the circumstances. 

"The destruction of the Mascoutin and Fox vil- 
lages is one of the principal reasons which induces 
me to send this express canoe. [By "village' ' is here 
meant "branches of the tribes."] It is God who has 
suffered these two audacious nations to perish. 
They have received many presents and some belts 
[treaty belts of wampum] from the English, to 
destroy the post of Fort Pontchartrain [Detroit], 
and then to cut our throats and those of our allies, 
particularly the Hurons and Ottawas, residing upon 
the Detroit river, and after that these wretches 
intended to settle among the English and devote 
themselves to their services. . . ." 

199 



200 LOST MARAMECH 

Certain of the tribes had gone to the Iroquois and 
established a village, and it was thought by the com- 
mandant that the Foxes would be likely to do the 
same; in fact, as we shall see, a branch of the Foxes 
attempted to carry this out eighteen years later. 
Three canoes of Foxes that had been defeated by 
the Chippewas, some distance above Detroit, gave 
this information to Du Buisson, he claims. The 
account states that "the band of the Great Chief 
Lamina and that of the Great Chief Pemoussa came 
early in the spring and encamped, in spite of my 
opposition, at about fifty paces from my fort, never 
willing to listen to me, speaking always with much 
insolence and calling themselves the owners of all 
this country. It was necessary for me to be very 
mild, having as you know, sir, but thirty Frenchmen 
with me, and wishing to restrain eight Miamis who 
were with De Vincennes, and also to sow our grain 
and pasture our cattle; and, besides, the Ottawas 
and Hurons had not come in from their winter hunt. 
I was thus exposed every day to a thousand insults. 
The fowls, pigeons, and other animals belonging to 
the French were killed without their daring to say a 
word, and, for myself, I was in no condition to 
openly declare my intentions. One of their parties 
entered my fort in order to kill one of the inhabit- 
ants named Lagmenesse and a daughter of Roy, 
another inhabitant. I could then no longer restrain 
myself, but took arms to prevent their accomplish- 
ing their object. I compelled them to retire imme- 
diately from the vicinity of the fort in order to not 
give them time to strengthen their party, as they 
expected the Kickapoos, their allies, that they 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 201 

might together execute their nefarious project; ho- 
ping to be strong enough to retire without loss among 
the English and Iroquois, they wanted but a favor- 
able moment to set fire to the fort. 

"But they were alarmed when they learned that 
the party of Mascoutins, who had wintered upon 
the head of the St. Joseph, had been cut off to the 
number of a hundred and fifty men, women, and 
children, by Saguina, a war-chief of the Ottawas, 
and Pottawatomies. They immediately determined 
to set fire to an Ottawa cabin, which was close by 
the gate of my fort. I was informed of their inten- 
tion by an Outagamie [Fox] Indian named Joseph, 
who long since left his people and came to reside 
among us. It was from him I learned all that 
passed in the Outagamie and Mascoutin village. 
He had the honor to be presented to you, sir, last 
year, at Montreal. He informed me of the inten- 
tion to set fire to my fort, and I immediately sent 
an express canoe to the hunting-grounds of the 
Ottawas and Hurons, to request them to join me as 
soon as possible. I sent also another canoe to the 
other side of the lake to invite the Chippeways and 
Mississaugas to join us. 

"The church and the house of Mr. Mullet were 
outside of the fort, and all our wheat was stored 
there. The contrary winds prevented our allies 
from arriving, which troubled me much. As the 
circumstances were now pressing, I prevailed on the 
few Frenchmen who were with me immediately to 
bring the wheat into the fort. And it was well I 
did so, for two days later it would have been pil- 
laged. We had to fire upon the enemy to secure it, 



202 LOST MARAMECH 

and as it was, they stole a considerable portion of it. 
But the principal object was to pull down, as quickly 
as possible, the church, the storehouse, and some 
other houses which were near my fort, and so close 
that the Indians, at any time, by setting fire to 
them, might have burnt our works. And, besides, 
it was important, in order to defend ourselves in 
case of an attack, which very soon took place. It 
became us to render thanks to the Lord for His 
mercies. We should have been lost if I had not 
formed this determination. I put on the best coun- 
tenance I could, encouraging the French who were 
in consternation, believing themselves lost. The 
apprehension I entertained that some accident 
might happen to the French who had not yet arrived, 
and the necessity of sowing our grain and pasturing 
our cattle, prevented me from refusing them [the 
hostile Indians] permission to enter the fort to 
trade, for fear they should suspect I was aware of 
their object. The only thing I could do was to tell 
them that I apprehended the Mi am is would attack 
me because I permitted them to remain so near, and 
therefore I was about to repair my fort. They did 
not appear to give much credit to my assertions. 
Our men were obliged to draw some posts, of which 
the Indians had taken possession, in order to repair 
the fort as soon as possible, and I succeeded per- 
fectly well in effecting the repairs with material 
taken from some of the houses. They wished to 
preserve a pigeon-house, from which they might 
have assailed us, but I deceived them and took 
possession of it. I placed it immediately oppo- 
site their fort, and pierced it with loopholes. I 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 



203 



mounted two swivels upon logs of wood, to serve 
as cannon in case of necessity. 

"The thirteenth day of May, while I was impa- 
tiently awaiting the arrival of my allies, who were 
the only aid I could expect, Mr. de Vincennes 
arrived from the Miami country with seven or eight 
Frenchmen. He brought me no news of the 
Indians, which gave me much trouble, and I did not 
know on \vhat saint to call. But heaven watched 
over our preservation, and when I least expected it, 
there came a Huron, all breathless, who said to me: 
'My father, I wish to speak to you in secret. I am 
sent to you by our peace chiefs.' There were then 
in their villages but seven or eight men. It seems 
that our deliverance was miraculous, for all others 
arrived two hours after, and the Ottawas also. The 
messenger said, 'God has pity on you; He has 
decreed that your enemies and ours should perish. I 
bring you information that four men have just 
arrived at our fort, not daring to enter yours on 
account of the Outagamies and Mascoutins who sur- 
round you. Makisabie, war-chief of the Pottawato- 
mies, and his brother, Tehamasimon, are at their 
head and desire to counsel with you.' 

"I requested Mr. de Vincennes to meet them, 
and he recognized at once the four Indians. He 
returned an hour after, to render me an account of 
the interview and told me, on the part of Makisabie, 
that six hundred men would soon arrive to aid me, 
and to eat those miserable nations who had troubled 
all the country; that it was necessary to keep myself 
on my guard against the Outagamies and Mascoutins, 
who might learn of the expected arrival of assistance. 



204 LOST MARAMECH 

"I requested Mr. de Vincennes to return to the 
Huron fort and ascertain from Makisabie if it would 
not be satisfactory to his people to content them- 
selves with driving away the Mascoutins and the 
Outagamies and compel them to return to their 
former villages, which, sir, was your intention. 
But this could not be done, for the Hurons were too 
much irritated. This great affair had been too well 
concerted during the whole autumn and winter, 
with all the nations. Mr. de Vincennes, perceiv- 
ing it would only irritate the Hurons to speak of 
accommodation, dropped the subject and the more 
readily as they said these wicked men never kept 
their word. Nothing else was done but to be silent 
and put the best face on the affair, while we fought 
with them against our enemies. The Hurons even 
reproached us with being tired of living, as we knew 
the bad intentions of the Outagamies and Mascou- 
tins. They said it was absolutely necessary to 
destroy them and to extinguish their fire, and it 
was your intention they should perish. They added 
that they knew your views on this subject at Mon- 
treal. 

"Mr. de Vincennes returned and told me it was 
useless to speak of any accommodation. And in truth 
I well knew there was great danger in having so 
many nations around us of whose good intentions 
we were not certain. I then closed the gates of the 
fort and divided my Frenchmen into four brigades, 
each having its brigadier. I inspected their arms 
and ammunition and assigned them their stations 
on the bastions. I put four of them into the 
redoubt I had just constructed. I placed some of 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 



205 



them at the two curtains which were most exposed, 
and armed them with spears. My two cannon were 
all ready, with slugs of iron prepared to load them 
with, which had been made by the blacksmith. Our 
reverend father held himself ready to give general 
absolution in case of necessity, and to assist the 
wounded if there should be any. He communicated 
also the Sacred Host. 

"Every arrangement being made, and while we 
were waiting with impatience, I was informed that 
there were many people in sight. I immediately 
ascended a bastion, and casting my eyes toward the 
woods I saw the army of the nations of the south issu- 
ing from it. They were the Illinois, the Missouris, 
the Osages, and other nations yet more remote. 
There were also with them the Ottawa chief Saguina, 
and also the Pottawatomies, the Sacs, and some 
Menomenies. Detroit never saw such a collection 
of people. It is surprising how much all these 
nations are irritated against the Mascoutins and the 
Outagamies. This army marched in good order, 
with as many flags as there were different nations, 
and it proceeded directly to the fort of the Hurons. 
These Indians said to the head chief of j:he army, 
'You must not encamp. Affairs are too pressing. 
We must enter immediately into our father's fort 
and fight for him. As he has always had pity on]us, 
and as he loves us, we ought to die for him. And 
don't you see that smoke also? They are the women 
of your village, Saguina, who are burning there, and 
your wife is among them.' Not another word was 
necessary. There arose a great cry, and at the 
same time they all began to run, having the Hurons 



206 LOST MARAMECH 

and the Ottawas at their head. The Outagamies 
and the Mascoutins raised also their war cry, and 
about forty of them issued from their fort, all naked 
and well armed, running to meet our Indians and to 
brave them, in order to make them believe they 
were not afraid. They were obliged, however, to 
retreat immediately, and to return to their village. 
Our Indians requested permission to enter my fort, 
which I granted, seeing they were much excited. 
It was my design they should encamp near the 
woods, that they might not be troublesome to us. 
All the Indian chiefs assembled upon the parade 
ground of my fort and spoke to me as follows: 'My 
father, I speak to you on the part of all the nations, 
your children, who are before you. What you did 
last year in drawing their flesh from the fire, which 
the Outagamies were about to roast and eat, well 
merits that we should bring you our bodies. So 
make you the master of them, they to do all you 
wish. We do not fear death, whenever it is neces- 
sary to die for you. We have only to request that 
you pray the father of all nations to have pity 
on our women and our children in case we lose our 
lives with you. We beg you to throw a blade of 
grass upon our bones to protect them from the flies. 
You see, my father, that we have abandoned our vil- 
lages, our women, and our children, to hasten as 
soon as possible to join you. We hope that you 
will have pity on us and that you will give us some- 
thing to eat and a little tobacco to smoke. We 
have come from a distance and are destitute of 
everything; we hope you will give us powder and 
balls to fight with you. We don't make a great 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 207 

speech. We perceive that we fatigue you and your 
people by the ardor which you show for the fight.' 

"I immediately answered them, and briefly: 'I 
thank you, my children; the determination that you 
have taken to offer to die with us is very agreeable 
to me and causes me much pleasure. I recognize 
you as the true children of the Governor-General, 
and I shall not fail to render him account of all that 
you have done for me to-day. You need not doubt 
that when any question respecting your interest 
arises, he will regard it favorably. I receive orders 
from him every day to watch continually for the 
preservation of his children. With regard to your 
necessities, I know you want everything. The fire 
which has just taken place is unlucky for you as 
well as for me. I will do all I can to provide you 
with what you want. I beg you to live in peace, 
union, and good intelligence together, as well 
among your different nations as with the French 
people. This will be the best means of enabling us 
to defeat our common enemies. Take courage, 
then; inspect and repair your war clubs, your bows 
and arrows, and especially your guns. I shall sup- 
ply you with powder and balls immediately, and 
then will attack our enemies. This is all I have to 
say to you.' 

"All the Indians uttered a cry of joy and of 
thanks and said: 'Our enemies are dead from the 
present moment. The heavens begin to grow clear, 
and the Master of Life has pity on us.' 

"All the old men made harangues through the 
fort to encourage the warriors, telling them to listen 
to my words and strictly obey all my orders. I dis- 



208 LOST MARAMECH 

tributed among them immediately a quantity of 
balls and powder, and then we all raised the war 
cry. The very earth trembled. The enemy, who 
were not more than a pistol-shot distant, raised also 
their war cry at the same time. The guns were 
immediately discharged on both sides, and the 
balls flew like hail. 

"We had to do as our Indians did in order to 
encourage them. The powder and balls that you 
had the goodness to send us, sir, the past autumn, 
did not last long. I was obliged to have recourse 
to three barrels that Mr. de Lamothe left with a cer- 
tain Roy to sell, not leaving me a single grain when 
he went away for the defense of the fort in case of 
an attack. All mine was exhausted, as well as a 
quantity which I had been obliged to purchase of 
some of the French people. 

"I held the Outagamies and the Mascoutins in a 
state of siege during nineteen days, wearing them 
out by a continual fire night and day. In order to 
avoid our fires they were obliged to dig holes four 
or five feet deep in the ground to shelter them- 
selves. I had erected two high scaffolds, twenty 
feet high, the better to fire into their village. They 
could not go out for water, and they were exhausted 
by hunger and thirst. I had from four to five hun- 
dred men, who blockaded their village night and 
day, so that no one could issue to seek assistance. 
All our Indians went and hid themselves at the edge 
of the woods, whence they continually returned with 
prisoners, who came to join their people, not know- 
ing they were besieged. Their sport was to shoot 
them or to fire arrows at them and then burn them. 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 209 

"The enemy that I had kept besieged, thinking 
to intimidate me and by this means to have the 
field left open to them, covered their palisades with 
scarlet blankets and then hallooed to me that they 
wished the earth was all colored with blood; these 
red blankets were the mark of it. They hoisted 
twelve red blankets as standards in twelve different 
places of their village. I well knew that these sig- 
nals were English and that they fought for the Eng- 
lish. This, indeed, they told us, for we could speak 
from one fort to the other. They said they had no 
father but the English, and told all the nations, our 
allies, that they would do much better to quit our 
side and join theirs. 

"The great war chief of the Pottawatomies, after 
having requested my advice and permission, 
mounted one of my scaffolds and spoke to our ene- 
mies in the name of all our nations in these words: 
'Wicked nations that you are, you hope to frighten 
us by all that red color which you exhibit in your 
village. Learn that if the earth is covered with 
blood, it will be yours. You speak to us of the 
English; they are the cause of your destruction, 
because you have listened to their bad counsel. 
They are enemies of prayer, and it is for that reason 
that the Master of Life chastises them as well as 
you, wicked men that you are; don't you know as 
well as we do, that the father of all the nations, 
who is at Montreal, sends continually parties of his 
young men against the English to make war, and 
who took so many prisoners that they do not know 
what to do with them? The English, who are 
cowards, only defend themselves by secretly killing 



210 LOST MARAMECH 

men by that wicked strong drink, which has caused 
so many men to die immediately after drinking it. 
Thus we shall see what will happen to you for hav- 
ing listened to them.' 

"I was obliged to stop this conversation, perceiv- 
ing that the enemy had requested to speak merely 
to attract our attention while they went for water. 
I ordered our great fire to recommence, which was 
so violent that we killed more than twenty men and 
some women who had secretly gone out for water. 
I lost that day twelve men who were killed in my 
fort. The enemy, in spite of my opposition, had 
taken possession of a house, where they had erected 
a scaffold behind the gable end, which was of earth. 
Our balls could not penetrate this defense, and thus 
every day many of our people were killed. This 
obliged me to raise one of my scaffolds, the two 
large logs upon which were mounted our swivels. 
I loaded them with slugs and caused them to be fired 
upon the scaffold which troubled me so much. They 
were so well aimed that at the first two discharges 
we heard the scaffolds fall, and some of the enemy 
were killed. They were so frightened that we heard 
them utter cries and frightful groans, and toward 
evening they called out to know if I would allow 
them to come and speak to me. I assembled imme- 
diately the chiefs of all the nations who were with 
me to ascertain their opinion, and we agreed it was 
best to listen to them in order, by some strategy, to 
withdraw from them three of our women whom they 
had made prisoners some days before the siege, and 
one of whom was the wife of the great war chief 
Saguina. I told them, through my interpreter, that 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 211 

they might come in safety to speak to me, as I was 
willing they should have that satisfaction before 
dying. 

"They did not fail, the next morning, to make 
me a visit. We were very much surprised not to 
see the red flag in their village, but only a white 
flag. It was the great chief Pemoussa who was at 
the head of this first embassy. He came out of his 
village with two other Indians, carrying a white 
flag in his hand. I sent my interpreter to meet 
him and conduct him to me, and to protect him 
from the insults of some of the young warriors. He 
entered my fort; I placed him in the midst of the 
parade-ground, and then I assembled all the chiefs 
of the nations who were with me to hear our ambas- 
sador, who spoke in these words (presenting a belt 
of wampum and two slaves). 'My father, I am dead; 
I see very well that the heaven is clear and beauti- 
ful for you only, and that for me it is altogether 
dark. When I left my village I hoped that you 
would willingly listen to me. I demand of you, my 
father, by this belt, which I lay at your feet, that 
you have pity on your children and that you do not 
refuse them the two days that they ask you in which 
there shall be no firing on either side, that our old 
men may hold council to find the means of turning 
away your wrath. 

" 'It is to you that I now speak, you other chil- 
dren, listening to the advice of our father; this belt 
is to pray you to recollect that you are our kindred. 
If you shed our blood, recollect that it is your own; 
endeavor, then, to soften the heart of our father, 
whom we have so often offended. 



212 LOST MARAMECH 

" 'These two slaves are to replace a little blood 
that you have lost. I do not speak many words 
until our old men can counsel together, if you grant 
us those two days that I have asked of you.' 

"I answered him thus: 'If your hearts were prop- 
erly moved and if you truly considered the Gov- 
ernor at Montreal as your father, you would have 
begun by bringing with you the three women whom 
you hold as prisoners; not having done so, I believe 
your hearts are yet bad. If you expect me to listen 
to you, begin by bringing them here. This is all I 
have to say.' 

"All the chiefs who were with me exclaimed with 
a high voice: 'My father, after what you have just 
said, we have nothing to answer to this ambassador. 
Let him obey you if he wishes to live.' 

"The ambassador answered: T am only a child. 
I shall return to my village to render an account of 
what you have said to our old men.' 

"Thus finished the council. I gave him three or 
four Frenchmen to reconduct him, assuring him that 
we would not fire upon his village during the day, 
on condition, however, that no one should leave it to 
seek water, and that if they did so the truce should 
be at an end and we should fire upon them. 

"Two hours after, three chiefs, two of the Mascou- 
tins, and the third an Outagamie, came bearing a 
flag and bringing with them the three women. I 
made them enter into the same place where the 
others were stationed and where all our chiefs were 
again assembled. The three messengers spoke as 
follows: 'My father, here are these three pieces of 
flesh that you ask of us. We would not eat them, 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 



213 



thinking you would call us to an account for it. 
Do what you please with them. You are the master. 
Now, we Mascoutins and Outagamies request that 
you cause all the nations who are with you to retire 
in order that we may freely seek provisions for our 
women and our children. Many die every day of 
hunger. All our village regrets that we have dis- 
pleased you. If you are as good a father as all your 
children who are around you say you are, you will 
not refuse the favor we ask of you.' 

"As I had now the three women whom I sought, 
I did not care any longer to keep fair with them, 
and I therefore answered: 'If you had eaten my 
flesh which you have now brought to me, you would 
not have been living at this moment. You would 
have felt such terrible coils that they would have 
covered you so deep in the ground that no one would 
any longer speak of you, so true is it that I love the 
father of all the nations. With regard to the 
liberty that you demand, I leave it to my children to 
answer you. Therefore, I shall not say any more.' 

"The head chief of the Illinois, whose name is 
Makouandeby, was appointed by the chiefs of the 
other nations to speak in these words: 'My father, 
we all thank you for your kindness to us; we thank 
you for it, and since you give us permission to speak 
we shall do so.' 

"And then, addressing the hostile chiefs, he said: 
'Now, listen to me, ye nations who have troubled 
all the earth. We perceive clearly, by your words, 
that you seek only to surprise our father and to 
deceive him again in demanding that we should 
retire. We should no sooner do that than you 



214 LOST MARAMECH 

would again torment our father and you would 
infallibly shed his blood. You are dogs who have 
always bitten him. You have never been sensible 
of the favors you have received from all the French. 
You have thought, wretches that you are, that we 
did not know all the speeches you have received 
from the English, telling you to cut the throats of 
our father and of his children and then to lead the 
English into this country. Go away, then. For 
us, we will not stir a step from you; we are deter- 
mined to die with our father; we should disobey 
him; because we know your bad hearts and we would 
not leave him alone with you. We shall see from 
this moment who will be master, you or us; you 
have now only to retire and as soon as you shall 
reenter your fort we shall fire upon you.' 

"I sent an escort to conduct the ambassadors to 
their fort, and we began to fire again as usual. We 
were three or four days without any intercourse, 
firing briskly on both sides. The enemy discharged 
their arrows so rapidly that more than three or four 
hundred were flying at the same time,* and at their 
ends were lighted fuses; the object being to burn us, 
as they had threatened to do. I found myself very 
much embarrassed; the arrows fell upon all our 
quarters, which were covered with straw, so that 
the fire easily caught many of them, which fright- 
ened the French so much that they thought every- 
thing was lost. I reassured them, telling them 
that this was nothing and that we must find a remedy 

* This statement shows that Du Buisson was something of a 
romancer, and it may well caution us to take many of the 
other statements as possible exaggerations. 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 215 

as soon as possible. 'Come, then,' said I, 'take 
courage; let us take off the thatch from the houses 
and let us cover them with bearskins and deer- 
skins; our Indians will help us.' I then directed 
them to bring in two large wooden pirogues, which 
I rilled with water and provided badrouilles at the 
ends of rods to [extinguish the fire when it should 
break out anywhere, and hooks to pull out the 
arrows. There were four or five Frenchmen who 
were wounded. I fell into another embarrassment 
much greater than this; my Indians became dis- 
couraged and wished to go away, a part of them 
saying that we should never conquer those nations; 
that they knew them well, and that they were braver 
than any other people; and besides, I could no 
longer furnish them with provisions. 

"This inconstancy ought to teach us how danger- 
ous it is to leave a post so distant as this without 
troops. I then saw myself on the point of being 
abandoned and left a prey to our enemies, who 
would not have granted us any quarter, and the 
English would have triumphed. 

"The French were so frightened that they told 
me they saw clearly it was necessary we should 
retire as quickly as possible to Michilimacinac. 
I said to them: 'What are you thinking of? Is it 
possible you can entertain such sentiments? What! 
abandon a post in such a cowardly manner? Dis- 
miss such thoughts, my friends, from your minds. 
Do things appear so bad? You ought to know that 
if you should abandon me the Governor-General 
would follow you everywhere to punish you for your 
cowardice. What the Indians have just said ought 



216 LOST MARAMECH 

not to frighten you. I am going to speak to all the 
chiefs in private and inspire them with new cour- 
age. Therefore, change your views and let me act, 
and you will see that everything will go well.' 
They answered me that they did not think of retir- 
ing without my consent nor without me at their 
head, believing that we could not hold the place if 
our Indians should abandon us. They begged me 
to pardon them and assured me they would do all I 
wished. And, truly, I was afterward very well con- 
tented with them. They did their duty like brave 
people. 

"I was four days and four nights without taking 
any repose and without eating and drinking, striving 
all the time to secure to my interest all the young 
war chiefs in order to keep the warriors firm, and 
to encourage them so that they would not quit us 
until our enemies were defeated. To succeed in 
this object I stripped myself of all I had, making 
presents to one and another. You know, sir, that 
with the Indians one must not be mean. I flatter 
myself that you will have the goodness to approve 
all expenditures, which for me are immense, and 
for the King of no consequence; for otherwise I 
should be very much to be pitied, having a large 
family, which occasions me a great expense at 
Quebec. 

"Having gained all the Indians in private, I held 
a general council, to which I called all the nations, 
and said to them: 'What, my children, when you are 
just on the point of destroying these wicked nations, 
do you think of retreating shamefully after having 
so well begun? Could you lift up your heads 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 



217 



again? You would be overwhelmed with confusion. 
All the other nations would say, Are these the 
brave warriors who fled so ignominiously after hav- 
ing abandoned the French? Be not troubled; take 
courage; we will endeavor yet to find a few provi- 
sions. The Hurons and the Ottawas, your brothers, 
offer you some. I will do all I can to comfort you 
and to aid you. Don't you see that our enemies 
can hardly preserve their position? Hunger and 
thirst overpower them. We shall quickly render 
ourselves masters of their bodies. Will it not be 
pleasant, after such a result, when you visit Mon- 
treal, to receive there the thanks and friendship of 
the father of all nations, who will thank you for 
having risked your lives with me? For you cannot 
doubt that in the report I shall make to him I shall 
render justice to each of you for all you will have 
done. You must also be aware that to defeat these 
two nations is to give that life and peace to your 
women and children which they have not yet 
enjoyed.' 

"The young war chiefs whom I had gained did 
not give me time to finish, but said to me: 'My 
father, allow us to interrupt you; we believe there 
is some liar who has told you falsehoods. We 
assure you that we all love you too much to abandon 
you, and we are not such cowards as is reported. 
We are resolved, even if we are much more pressed 
with hunger, not to quit you till your enemies are 
utterly destroyed.' All the old men approved of 
these sentiments and said: 'Come on, come on, let 
us hasten to arm ourselves and prove that those are 
liars who have reported evil of us to our father.' 



218 LOST MARAMECH 

They then raised a great cry and sung the war song, 
and danced the war dance, and a large party went 
to fight. 

"Every day some Sacs, who had lived some time 
with the Outagamies, left their fort and came to join 
their people who were with me, and who received 
them with much pleasure. They made known to us 
the condition of our enemies, assuring us that they 
were reduced to the last extremity; that from sixty 
to eighty women and children had died from hunger 
and thirst, and that their bodies and the bodies of 
those who were killed everyday caused an infection 
in their camp, as they could not inter their dead in 
consequence of the heavy fire that we continually 
kept up. 

"Under these circumstances, they demanded per- 
mission to speak to us, which was granted. Their 
messengers were their two great chiefs, one of 
peace, the other of war; the first named Allamima 
and the other Pemoussa. With them were two great 
Mascoutin chiefs, one Kuit and the other Onabi- 
maniton. Pemoussa was at the head of the three 
others, having a crown of wampum upon his head 
and many belts of wampum on his body, and hung 
over his shoulders. He was painted with green 
earth, and supported by seven female slaves, who 
were also painted and covered with wampum. The 
three other chiefs had each a Chichory in their 
hands. All of them marched in order, singing and 
shouting with all their might, to the song of the 
Chichories, calling all the devils to their assistance, 
and to have pity on them. They had even figures 
of little devils hanging on their girdles. They 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 219 

entered my fort in this manner and, when being 
placed in the midst of the nations, our allies, they 
spoke as follows: 'My father, I speak to you, and 
to all the nations who are before you. I come to 
you to demand life. It is no longer ours. You are 
the masters of it. All the nations have abandoned 
us. I bring you my flesh in the seven slaves, whom 
I put at your feet. But do not believe I am afraid 
to die. It is the life of our women and our children 
that I ask of you. I beg you to allow the sun to 
shine; let the sky be clear, that we can see the day, 
and that, hereafter, our affairs may be prosperous. 
Here are six belts that we give you, which bind us 
to you like your slaves. Untie them, we beg you, 
to show that you give us life. Recollect, ye 
nations, that you are our great nephews; tell us 
something, I pray you, which can give pleasure on 
our return to our village.' 

"I left it to our Indians to answer these ambas- 
sadors. They were, however, so much enraged 
against them that they would not give them any 
answer. Eight or ten of them asked permission to 
speak to me in private. 

" 'My father, we come to ask liberty of you to 
break the heads of these four great chiefs. They 
are the men who prevent our enemies from sur- 
rendering at discretion. When these shall be no 
longer at their head they will find themselves much 
embarrassed and will surrender.' 

"I told them they must be drunk to make me such 
a proposition. 'Recollect that they came here upon 
our word, and you have given me yours. We must 
act with good faith, and if such a thing be done 



220 LOST MARAMECH 

how could you trust one another? Besides, if I 
acquiesced in this proposition the Governor-General 
would never pardon me. Dismiss it, therefore, 
from your thoughts. They must return peaceably. 
You see clearly that they cannot avoid us, since you 
resolved not to give them quarter.' 

"They confessed I was right and that they were 
foolish. We dismissed the ambassadors in all 
safety without, however, giving them any further 
answer. These poor wretches well knew there was 
no longer any hope for them. 

"I confess, sir, that I was touched with compas- 
sion at their misfortunes; but as war and pity do 
not well agree together and particularly as I under- 
stood they were paid by the English for our destruc- 
tion, I abandoned them to their unfortunate fate; 
indeed, I hastened to have this tragedy finished in 
order that the example might strike terror to the 
English and to themselves. 

"The great fire recommenced, more and more 
violently; the enemy being in despair, beaten in 
their village and out of it; and when they wished to 
go for water or to gather a few herbs, to appease 
their hunger, had no other recourse but an obscure 
night with rain in order to effect their escape. They 
awaited it with much impatience, and it came on 
the nineteenth day of the siege. They did not fail 
to make use of it, decamping about midnight, and 
we did not know of their escape until daylight. I 
encouraged our people and they pursued them very 
vigorously. Mr. de Vincennes joined in the pur- 
suit, with some Frenchmen, and this gave much 
pleasure to the Indians. 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 221 

"The enemy, not doubting but that they would 
be pursued, stopped at the Presq' isle, which is oppo- 
site Hog island, near Lake St. Clair, four leagues 
from the fort. 

"Our people, not perceiving their entrenchment, 
pushed into it, and lost there twenty killed and 
wounded. It was necessary to form a second siege, 
and also an encampment. The camp was regularly 
laid out; there were a hundred canoes every day, as 
well Ottawas, Hurons, and Chippeways, as Missis- 
sagas to carry provisions there. The chiefs sent to 
me for two cannon and all the axes and mattocks 
that I had, to cut timber, and to place it so as to 
approach the hostile entrenchment, together with 
powder and ball. As for the Indian corn, tobacco, 
and seasoning, they were supplied as usual, without 
counting all the kettles of the French, which are 
now lost and that I had to pay for. 

"The enemy held their position for four days, 
fighting with much courage, and finally, not being 
able to do anything more, surrendered at discretion 
to our people, who gave them no quarter. All were 
killed except the women and children, whose lives 
were spared, and one hundred men, who had been 
tied but escaped. 

"All our allies returned to our fort with their 
slaves, having avoided it before, as they thought it 
was infective. Their amusement was to shoot four 
or five of them every day. The Hurons did not 
spare a single one of theirs. 

"In this manner came to an end, sire, these two 
wicked nations, who so badly afflicted and troubled 
all the country. Our reverend father chanted a 



222 LOST MARAMECH 

grand mass to render thanks to God for having pre- 
served us from the enemy. 

"The Outagamies and Mascoutins had constructed 
a very good fort which, as I said, was within pistol 
shot of mine. Our people did not dare to under- 
take to storm it, notwithstanding all I could say. 
The works were defended by three hundred men, 
and our loss would have been great had we assaulted 
it; but the siege would not have been so long. Our 
Indians lost sixty men killed and wounded, thirty 
of whom were killed in the fort, and a Frenchman 
named Germain, and five or six others were wounded 
with arrows. The enemy lost a thousand souls, 
men, women, and children. 

"I ought not to forget, sir, to state that there were 
about twenty-five Iroquois who had joined them- 
selves to the Hurons of Fond du Lac in this war. 
These two nations distinguished themselves above 
all the others and, therefore, their loss had been 
proportionately greater. They received the thanks 
of all the Indians and more particularly of the Pot- 
tawatomies, to whom they made satisfaction for an 
old quarrel by presents of slaves and pipes. I 
brought about this accommodation. I dare venture 
to assure you, sir, that the general assembly of all 
the nations has put them at peace with one another 
and renewed their ancient alliance. They calculate 
upon receiving many presents which they say, sir, 
you promised them. 

"I have determined, with the consent of his 
nation, to send to you the grand chief of the Illinois 
Rock village. His name is Chachagonache. He is 
a good man and has much authority, and I trust, 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 



223 



sir, that you will induce him to make a peace with 
the Miamis. 

"This affair is of very great consequence, the 
Miamis having sent me word that they should aban- 
don their village and build another on the Oyou, at 
the end of Lake Erie. It is precisely where the 
English are about to erect a fort, according to the 
belts they have sent to the different nations. They 
also said that they would be contented if you sent 
them, sir, a garrison and a reverend father, a Jesuit, 
and some presents that they say you promised them. 

"Makisabie, the Pottawatomie chief, has much 
influence over the mind of this Illinois chief. He 
goes with him. Joseph, who accompanies them, 
deserves your kindness. I have had much trouble 
to save his life. 

"I venture, sir, to request that you take care that 
the Indians who are with Mr. de Vincennes return 
contented; their visit secures this post. 

"Saguina has complained to me that Mr. Desti- 
ettes would not wait for him last spring, believing it 
was through contempt. 

"Poor Otchipouac died this winter. It is a great 
loss to us, for he had much firmness and was well 
disposed toward the French. We have another 
difficult affair which threatens to give us much 
trouble. The Kickapoos, who live at the mouth of 
the Maumee river, are about to make war upon us 
now that our allies have left us; about thirty Mas- 
coutins have joined them. A canoe of Kickapoos 
who came here to speak to the three villages has 
been defeated by the Hurons and Ottawas. Among 
them was a principal chief, whose head was brought 



224 LOST MARAMECH 

to me, with the heads of three others. This was 
done out of resentment, because last winter they had 
taken prisoners some of the Hurons and the Iro- 
quois; besides, they considered him a true Outaga- 
mie. I believe that if Mr. de Vincennes had not 
been at the mouth of the Maumee at the time, the 
Kickapoos would have killed the two Hurons and 
the Iroquois. There was every probability of it. 
Those same Indians took prisoner also Langlois, 
who was on his return from the Miami country and 
who had charge of many letters from the reverend 
fathers, the Jesuits of the Illinois villages. All 
these letters have been destroyed, which circum- 
stance has given me much uneasiness, as I am sure, 
sir, there were some for you from Louisiana. They 
dismissed him, after robbing him of his peltry, 
charging him to return and tell them the news; but 
he had no more desire to do that than I had to per- 
mit him. However, the Ottawas might safely send 
there, because the Kickapoos have among them one 
of their women with her children. I will endeavor 
to prevail upon the Ottawas and the Hurons to 
accommodate their difficulties with the Kickapoos 
in order that our repose may not be troubled here. 
"I have the honor to inform you, sir, that I 
accomplished a measure the last year that Mr. de 
Lamothe never could effect, during all the time he 
was here, which was to compel the Ottawas to make 
a solid peace with the Miamis and to engage them 
to visit the latter, which, till now, they never would 
do. I succeeded very happily in the object, the 
Miamis having received them very kindly, and a 
durable alliance has been the consequence. 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 225 

"I flatter myself, sir, it will be agreeable to you to 
be informed that Mr. de Vincennes has faithfully 
performed his duty and that he has labored assidu- 
ously here, as well as on his voyage to the Miamis 
and Ouyatonons, the last winter. 

"If I am so happy, sir, as to receive your appro- 
bation of my conduct, I shall be fully compensated 
for all my trouble and shall experience no more 
dejection. 

"My success has been much owing to the great 
influence I have over the nations; Mr. de Vin- 
cennes is the witness of this. I do not say this in 
order to gratify my vanity or to claim any credit, 
for, truly, I am very tired of Detroit. 

"You can easily judge, sir, in what a condition 
my affairs must be in consequence of having no 
presents belonging to the king in my hands. How- 
ever, I venture to trust to your goodness and hope 
that you will not suffer a devil to be reduced to beg- 
gary. 

"I have the honor to be, with very profound 
respect, sir, your very humble and very obedient 
servant, 

"(Signed) Dubuisson. 

"Pontchartrain, 
"Au Fort du Detroit, June 15, 1712. " 

From the following {Collection of Manuscripts, I., 
622) we may gather some valuable facts; they do 
not seem to lay all the blame on the Foxes. 

The commandant at Detroit in 1712, wishing to 
draw the commerce of all the nations to his post, 
sent some belts of wampum to the Mascoutins and 



226 LOST MARAMECH 

Kickapoos to invite them to make a village at 
Detroit, where he offered them a place which they 
accepted and, having come to the number of forty 
families, they there made a fort. In the account 
the Mascoutins, Kickapoos, and Foxes are grouped 
together, which is often the case. The Mascoutins, 
as is well known, by the way, have disappeared, 
and it is a question if they were not, in fact, a 
branch of the Fox tribe, unrecognized as such by 
the French. 

"As the nation is feared and hated by the other 
nations, because of its arrogance," says our inform- 
ant, "the fomentation of a conspiracy was com- 
menced by those already established at Detroit, 
where the Sr. de Buisson was in command. In 1712 
the Hurons and Ottawas, numbering about nine 
hundred men, gathered at the fort and to them the 
commandant opened the gate, which they entered. 
They quickly mounted the bastions that commanded 
the fort of the Foxes and made several discharges 
of musketry. One of the Fox chiefs spoke to the 
French in a loud voice, saying: 'What do you wish 
of us, my father? Thou hast invited us to come and 
dwell near thee, and thy words [represented by 
wampum belts] are fresh in our sacks, and yet thou 
declarest war; what is the cause of your having 
done this? Apparently, my father, thou hast for- 
gotten that there is not a nation that calls itself thy 
children that has not dipped its hand in the blood 
of the French. I am [we are] the only one of them 
to whom thou canst not make this reproach; and 
nevertheless, thou joinest our enemies and eat [kill] 
us; but know thou that the Foxes are immortal; 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 227 

and if in my defense I shed the blood of the French, 
thou, my father, canst not reproach me.' " 

The speech was interrupted by musketry. On the 
fourth day the Foxes ran short of provisions, and 
one called out in a high tone: "My father, I am not 
addressing thee, but saying to the women [squaw- 
men, a way of calling warriors cowards] who hide 
in thy fort that if they are as brave as they say, they 
may detail eighty of their best warriors, and I will 
oppose them with no more than twenty; and if the 
eighty defeat us, I will consent that we become 
their slaves; and if, on the contrary, the twenty 
defeat them, then they shall be our slaves." 

After the Foxes had escaped from their fort and 
reached the peninsula that thrusts itself into the 
river near Lake St. Clair, one of the Fox chiefs 
called to De Vincennes, who had demanded sur- 
render: "Is it to thee I surrender? Reply at once 
and tell me, my father, if quarter will be given to 
our families. Answer me." De Vincennes replied 
that he would accord to them their lives. 

This memoir is attributed to one M. de Lery. All 
accounts show that this butchery may have been 
brought about by treachery on the part of the 
French. 



CHAPTER XIII 

Revenge was ever sweet to an Indian, and the 
Foxes never were free from the desire to seek 
revenge for their many wrongs, even though the 
danger was so great as possibly to lead to their own 
destruction. The few who escaped massacre at 
Detroit evidently found their way to the south end 
of Green Bay and united with the portion of their 
tribe there that had long affiliated with the Sacs. 
No better locality could have been found in which 
to retaliate than along the Wisconsin river, and 
they did not miss many opportunities to return to 
their old methods. Travelers from Green Bay to 
the Mississippi took their lives in their hands when- 
ever they passed and failed to pay tribute. Through 
the machinations of the Foxes the other routes to 
the Mississippi were also made dangerous to the 
traders. With the exception of the Sioux, although 
sometimes against them, and the Iroquois with 
whom they were at times allied, all the nations who 
were on friendly terms with the French suffered 
greatly from the depredations of the Foxes, and it 
was feared that if a speedy remedy was not applied 
the greater number of the Indian tribes would 
become reconciled with the Foxes to the prejudices 
of the French. It is said that some Sioux and Iro- 
quois secretly joined the Foxes in some of their 
depredations. (Ferland, II., 204.) 

All this prompted Marquis de Vaudreuil, when 
229 



230 LOST MARAMECH 

Governor of Canada, to propose a union of the 
French with the Indian tribes in an expedition to 
exterminate the common enemy. M. de Louvigny 
led a party of eight hundred men, all resolved not 
to lay down arms while the Foxes remained. 

The Foxes had selected a stronghold at what is 
now known as Butte des Morts, before referred to. 
More than five hundred warriors and three thousand 
women and children shut themselves up in a fort 
surrounded by three ranges of palisades, with a ditch 
in the rear. Three hundred warriors were on the 
way to reenforce them, but they did not arrive in 
time. De Louvigny, finding them thus strongly 
entrenched, attacked them in form. He had two 
field-pieces and a grenade mortar. 

The trenches were opened about a hundred yards 
from the fort, and on the third day he was only 
about twenty-five yards distant when the besieged 
made a great attack by firing on the French. 

De Louvigny was preparing to undermine the 
works when the Foxes proposed terms of capitula- 
tion, which were finally agreed to. A treaty of 
peace was to be made between the Foxes on one 
hand and the French and their Indian allies on the 
other; all of the prisoners were to be given up at 
once; the'dead French and allies were to be replaced 
by slaves, which the Foxes were to obtain from the 
neighboring nations with whom they were at war. 
The expenses of the war were to be paid from the 
results of the chase by the Foxes, and their country 
was to be ceded to the French. The Foxes gave 
six hostages, all chiefs or sons of chiefs, and prom- 
ised to send some deputies to Montreal to sign the 




Fair ones of the Tama Reservation. 




11,11.' ting wild rice. 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 231 

treaty, in which they declared that they would cede 
all their country to the French. Pemoussa, who was 
spared at Detroit the year previous, and two others 
of the hostages who went, died during the following 
winter of smallpox at Montreal, and this deranged 
the plans of De Vaudreuil who, fearing that the 
treacherous Foxes would not carry the whole terms 
of the treaty into effect, sent De Louvigny back to 
Mackinaw with orders to have the treaty fully exe- 
cuted and to bring chiefs of that nation to him at 
Montreal. 

In May, 1717, De Louvigny arrived at Mackinaw 
with one of the hostages, who had been attacked 
with the smallpox, as the others, and had been made 
blind in one eye by it. As soon as he arrived De 
Louvigny sent this chief to the Foxes with presents 
to cover the dead, accompanied by two interpreters. 
They were well received, the calumet was smoked, 
and after some days of grieving for the dead, the 
chiefs met to listen to the hostage. He represented 
all matters in a proper manner, and reproached the 
chiefs for not having repaired to Mackinaw. The 
chiefs said that they were sensible of the kindness 
which the Governor continued to show them, ex- 
cused themselves for not having already sent depu- 
ties in fulfillment of the treaty, and promised to 
fulfill their obligations the following year, giving 
their promise in writing, and adding that they would 
never forget that they held their lives as a gift from 
the great father. 

The hostage came away with the interpreters to 
rejoin De Louvigny at Mackinaw; but after travel- 
ing about twenty leagues he left them, saying that it 



232 



LOST MARAMECH 



was necessary that he should return and oblige the 
nation to keep its word. Nothing further was heard 
from him. The Foxes did not send deputies to the 
Governor-General; and although he flattered him- 
self for a while that they would do so, he was only 
taught by the renewal of the old practices by the 
Foxes that an enemy driven to a certain point is 
always irreconcilable. It is true that their pride 
was greatly humbled and that a few years afterward 
they abandoned their old home and retired to the 
west side of the Mississippi; but in the meanwhile 
many battles were fought with them, while the 
Foxes, on their part, had obliged the Illinois to 
abandon their river forever. Although, after re- 
peated defeats, it could scarcely be considered that 
there remained enough of the Foxes to form a 
trifling village, yet no one ventured to go from 
Canada to Louisiana without taking great precau- 
tions against surprises. 

They soon renewed their old persecutions, and the 
courcurs du bois found the region that was thus aban- 
doned by the Illinois too dangerous to frequent, and 
although it abounded in peltries, they preferred not 
to venture there for them. 

After the expedition of De Louvigny, the Foxes 
gradually increased in numbers, and in 1718 they 
were reported to have five hundred men at their 
village on the Fox river of Wisconsin, which 
abounded in a multitude of women and children. 
(N. Y. Col. Docs, IX., 889.) They were said to be 
as industrious as people could be; they gathered 
wild rice and raised large quantities of Indian corn, 
pumpkins, and melons. Their customs differed 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 233 

little from those of their neighbors; they had the 
same kind of dances and games as the Pottawato- 
mies and other tribes, but differed in dress, for the 
men wore little clothing and the greater portion of 
them did not even wear a breech-cloth. As for the 
women, they were all well dressed, and the girls, in 
addition, wore black or brown fawn-skins embel- 
lished all around with little beads, or copper or tin 
trinkets, and also wore blankets. "They were 
pretty enough," says one writer, "and not black." 
There was excellent hunting in these parts, and the 
people lived well in consequence of the abundance 
of meat and fish; of the latter the Fox river was said 
to be very full. In the same account they are said 
to have been fifty leagues (about 121 miles), in the 
direction of Chicagou, from the Mascoutins and 
Kickapoos, who resided together in a village on the 
bank of a river, the name of which was forgotten by 
the narrator. O'Callaghan, editor of the New York 
Colo?iial Documents, in a footnote, gives the Rock 
river of Illinois as the location of the Mascoutins 
and Kickapoos at the time, which is undoubtedly 
correct, but if the Foxes were one hundred and 
twenty miles from them in the direction of Chicago, 
they must have been located near Chicago. If so 
located, possibly on the Fox river of Illinois, it 
must have been only for a very short period of time 
for, as will be seen, they soon after left their old 
home on the Fox river of Wisconsin and passed 
westward toward the Mississippi river, and finally 
down the latter to Rock Island. The Pottawatomies 
and Miamis seem to have left the St. Joseph river 
about 1718, for a time at least. 



234 



LOST MARAMECH 



A writer, in a memoir on the Indians between 
Lake Erie and Lake Superior, dated i/iy (N. Y. Col. 
Docs., X., 890), says: "I believed they left it (the 
St. Joseph river) only because of the war between 
the Sacs, Foxes, and Ottawas, and all the other tribes 
of those parts. It is thirty leagues from the Rock. 
The Ouitanons, a branch of the Miamis, were also 
at Chicago, but being afraid of the canoe people 
(Pottawatomies and others) left it." 

The early writers did not always distinguish 
between the Illinois and Miamis, for the tribes were 
often at peace with each other and their villages near 
together. The Foxes and tribes allied with them 
made war on the Illinois and Miamis and drove 
them from the northern part of what is now the 
state of Illinois. The Illinois occupied a position 
near "The Rock" on the banks of the Illinois river 
(Starved Rock), at the time the French occupied 
the Rock, which was fortified. From their lofty 
position they could see the prairies on which herds 
of buffalo grazed. The branch of the Illinois tribe 
known as the "Illinois of the Rock" (Peorias) 
remained in the vicinity until long after other parts 
of this tribe had settled at the new town of Kaskas- 
kia, on the Mississippi river. They joined the rest 
of the tribe about 1730, and we shall see the Foxes 
there took revenge. 

The Foxes often sought big game, and so at one 
time succeeded in killing some Ojibwa chiefs who 
resided on the southern shore of Lake Superior. 
That tribe threatened war upon the Foxes and, as 
well, other tribes adjacent to Green Bay. It 
required great effort on the part of the Governor, 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 235 

through deputies, to calm these people; but the 
Foxes were finally induced to send three deputies 
to Montreal, in company with a Kickapoo chief, 
who was sent by his people and the Mascoutins, to 
assure the Governor that they were really disposed 
to preserve peace with all nations, but peace was 
not brought by mere words, and war was continued 
between the Illinois, on the one hand, and the Kick- 
apoos and Mascoutins on the other. The Foxes 
again became involved because the Illinois had 
attacked them on several occasions and had killed 
and made prisoners several of their people, regard- 
less of the fact that the Foxes had not made the 
attack. On eight different occasions the prison- 
ers which the Kickapoos had taken from the Illinois 
and presented to the Foxes had been released by 
the Foxes, who always instructed them, on the part 
of the chiefs, that if they were disposed for peace 
they had only to come to their village where they 
would be safe. The excuses offered by the Foxes 
for having finally joined against the Illinois ap- 
peared reasonable, and the Kickapoo deputy repre- 
sented to the Governor that he did not commence 
hostilities, but that the Illinois had attacked him at 
a time when he entertained no other hopes than to 
live in peace with all the nations. The Governor 
gave the deputies to understand that peace must be 
made, and in order to conclude it they must prevail 
upon their allies, the Sacs, to labor to that end. 
He requested them not to make any movement 
against the Illinois nation during the negotiations; 
but even while the negotiations for peace were 
going on, a party of forty Illinois who had just struck 



236 LOST MARAMECH 

a blow, having encountered, on their way, a party 
of Foxes, Kickapoos, and Mascoutins, were so com- 
pletely surrounded that not one of them escaped, 
twenty of them having been killed on the spot and 
as many taken prisoners. 

It can hardly be said that anything precipitated 
the last great war with the Foxes, but a very near 
approach to it was the affair connected with Father 
Michael Guignas, a Jesuit missionary, who came to 
Canada in 1716, and two years later was assigned to 
the Mission at Mackinaw. In 1727 he accompanied 
Governor Beauharnois to Lake Pipin, where a fort 
was built and a mission established. In the follow- 
ing year the French were obliged to leave this post 
on account of the hostility of the Foxes, but 
returned to it in a few years, but not until after one 
of the most numerous branches of the tribe had 
been destroyed, at a point on the Fox river of Illi- 
nois at the site of ancient Maramech. 

While descending the Mississippi river, from Fort 
Beauharnois, Guignas and his comrades were cap- 
tured (October 15, 1728) by the Mascoutins and 
Kickapoos, still located in the southwestern part of 
Wisconsin. He was kept in captivity five months, 
and narrowly escaped being burned at the stake. 
(/. R. y LXVIIL, 329.) With him were sixteen 
Frenchmen, all on their way to one of the Illinois 
villages that had been established about thirty years 
before at the great river. The name Kaskaskia they 
had carried with them from the village on the Illi- 
nois river, opposite "Rock Fort," now known as 
Starved Rock, which they had been forced to aban- 
don. "The time at last came," we are told of 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 237 

Guignas, "when he was to be burned alive, and he 
prepared himself to finish his life in this horrible 
torment, when he was adopted by an old man who 
saved his life and procured him his liberty. Other 
missionaries who were among the Illinois were no 
sooner made acquainted with his sad situation than 
they procured him all the alleviations they were 
able to. Everything he received he employed in 
conciliating the savages, and he succeeded to such 
an extent that he induced them to conduct him to 
the Illinois, and while there to make peace with the 
French and with the savages of that region. Eight 
months after this peace was concluded, the Mascou- 
tins and Kickapoos returned again to the Illinois 
country and took Father Guignas to spend the win- 
ter with them, from whence, in all probability, he 
will return to Canada. He has been exceedingly 
broken down by these fatiguing journeys, but his 
zeal, full of fire and activity, seems to give him 
strength." 

Later he was found at Fort Beauharnois and 
remained in that region until 1739. Although many 
historians say that nothing was heard of him after 
the encounter with the Foxes, still we find a state- 
ment that he died at Quebec, February 5, 1752. In 
the reports sent by Father Nau to his superior he 
says: "The war is still carried on against the Fox 
nation and against other tribes which have taken 
them under their protection. Father Guignas was 
not taken, as it was feared, but he has much to 
suffer, for nothing can be sent him safely. For two 
consecutive years the provisions sent him have 
fallen into the enemy's hands." (J. /?., LXV. , 



2*8 LOST MARAMECH 



•o 



233.) This probably refers to the time when Father 
Guignas was at Fort Beauharnois the second time, 
as above stated. 

There evidently remained enough of the Foxes 
associated with the Sacs to annoy the father much 
for a long time after the slaughter of 1730. Father 
Aulneau says: "We received a few days ago news 
of Father Guignas, of whom we had not heard since 
1732. He is in a helpless condition; the hunger he 
has had to endure and constant dangers which he 
has been continually exposed to of being massacred 
by the Sacs and Foxes, and numerous other hard- 
ships borne heroically, have brought him so low 
that even the savages, who have little pity for us, 
are forced to look upon him with feelings of com- 
passion." (/. R., LXVIIL, 257.) Father Nau 
further says: "Our people have a war on their hands 
this long time with a savage tribe called the Foxes. 
It has been in a very slight degree successful, 
through the impossibility in which our troops are of 
ever overtaking them in sufficient numbers to 
destroy them. Last year ninety of our young men 
joined a French expedition against the Foxes; but 
after inconceivable hardships and a journey of more 
than seven hundred leagues, the guides led them 
astray, and they were obliged to make their way 
back without having caught sight of the enemy, 
save in one instance. A party of twenty-three sav- 
ages, nearly all of our mission, and seven French- 
men had somehow become separated from the main 
body when they found themselves suddenly sur- 
rounded by a war party of two hundred Foxes. Our 
men would have been destroyed had it not been for 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 239 

the resolution of the Iroquois. 'We are all dead 
men,' he said, 'if we surrender. There is no help 
for it; we will have to sell our lives as dearly as 
possible. Let us show the Foxes that we are Iro- 
quois and Frenchmen.' Whereupon he led the war- 
riors to the attack. The enemy could not stand the 
first onslaught and retreated precipitately to their 
fort. Thirty Foxes were laid low and ten taken 
prisoners; our party lost but two Frenchmen and 
one savage." Hebbard's Wisconsin under Dominion 
of France, p. 142, speaks of this expedition as having 
been in August, 1734, when the Foxes were found 
on the Des Moines river of Iowa. The attack was a 
failure and ended only in negotiations for peace. 
The expedition was under the command of De 
Noyelle, who, in 1730, as we shall see, aided in 
defeating the Foxes (we may as well say aided in 
the massacre), at the site of the ancient village of 
Maramech. It was not until 1733 that peace, to any 
extent effective, was concluded between the French 
and the Foxes with others associated with the latter. 



CHAPTER XIV 

Turning back to 1710, we read that some French- 
men, who for a time had traded with the Sioux, 
found the route blockaded by the Foxes, and that 
the Foxes had, in many ways, attempted to embit- 
ter the Sioux against the French, on the ground that 
the latter were only wishing to aid the Sioux and 
lead them to their own final injury. They made a 
pretext that the French clandestine traders (the 
conrcurs du dots) were supplying the Sioux with pow- 
der, lead, arms, and merchandise. Ten years before 
this, La Sueur's journal tells us, that that traveler 
met, on the Mississippi river, five Canadians, one of 
whom was dangerously wounded in the head; they 
were naked and had no arms except a wretched gun 
with five or six charges of powder and ball. They 
said _that they were descending from the Sioux to 
go to the Tamarois and that they had met with nine 
canoes, carrying ninety Indians, who had plundered 
and cruelly beaten them. The party was going to 
war against the Sioux and was made up of .four 
different nations, Foxes, Sacs, Pottawatomies, and 
Winnebagoes. The Indians no doubt intended the 
robbery as a punishment to the Frenchmen for hav- 
ing taken arms to the Sioux. The Foxes were jeal- 
ous of what they considered their rights and, as 
before, levied tribute on all who passed along their 
river. This jealousy continued for many years. 
Father Chardon, a missionary at Green Bay, wrote 

241 



242 LOST MARAMECH 

to his superiors, even as late as 1733, that it would 
be difficult to establish a mission at the Sioux 
because of the interference of the Foxes and Kicka- 
poos who, two years before, had killed two French- 
men. The Foxes declared that they would not let 
the French go to the Sioux because they not only 
carried arms, but the commerce that the French 
made diminished their own commerce" considerably, 
as otherwise, as middlemen, they could carry on a 
profitable trade between the French and the Sioux. 
Notwithstanding this opposition, the Foxes suc- 
ceeded in getting the Sioux to join them and attack 
some of the French who were on their way to the 
Illinois. Prior to this, fragments of these two tribes 
attacked the French who were established at the 
Illinois village. Being so embittered against the 
Illinois they could not be made to end the war they 
had been engaged in for so many years. 

In 1727 an association of Frenchmen was formed 
to attempt trade with the Sioux. The uncertainty 
of reaching the latter was such that, in the articles 
of association, there was a provision to the effect 
that in case the traders were prevented by the 
Foxes, from passing to the Sioux, they were to be 
permitted to trade their merchandise wherever it 
seemed best, under the orders of the officer com- 
manding, who would direct the manner and place 
for the purpose. {Affluents Mississippi, p. 548.) 

Father Charlevoix encountered fragments of this 
ruthless tribe. He tells us, in speaking of the cus- 
tom of burning prisoners: "Sometimes the prisoners 
are judged and executed before arriving at the vil- 
lage of their captors. At one time a Frenchman 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 



243 



having been taken by the Foxes, the latter held a 
council, on their route homeward, to determine 
what they should do with the prisoner." The way 
they reached a conclusion "was to throw a stick up 
in a tree a certain number of times, and if it 
remained there the prisoner was to be burned, but 
if it fell to the ground his life was to be spared." 

While passing down the Illinois river, near Peoria 
lake, the father and his Frenchmen found forty 
Canadians, who informed him that he would soon be 
in the midst of four parties of Foxes and that he 
would have safety neither in advancing nor return- 
ing. There were thirty Foxes in ambush, and an 
equal number of the same around the village of 
Pimiteouy, and others, to the number of eighty, 
held themselves in readiness lower down the river. 
The canoes of the fleet that carried the father 
landed at the foot of an island for the purpose of 
procuring game, and while there heard noises of 
wood-chopping. The nearness of the Illinois vil- 
lage of Pimiteouy led them to judge that the noise 
came from some Illinois who were doing this, yet it 
had much the appearance that the Foxes had dis- 
covered them and, not daring to attack them, wished 
to draw some of the French into the woods. The 
father believed that the lack of curiosity on the part 
of the French proved their safety. Thirty Illinois 
warriors, commanded by the chief of the village of 
Pimiteouy, were on the march to endeavor to get 
reliable information in regard to the enemy. A few 
days before their departure an engagement had 
taken place in the neighborhood, where the two 
parties had each made a prisoner. The Fox that 



244 LOST MARAMECH 

was taken had been burned, a gunshot distant from 
the village, and the body yet remained tied on its 
frame. 

The custom of the Illinois in torturing a prisoner, 
it may be said in passing, was to plant two posts 
and secure a cross-bar near the ground to which the 
feet of the prisoner were tied, some distance apart, 
and another cross-bar at sufficient height to tie his 
outstretched arms well apart. A slow fire beneath, 
"to give their friend warmth," as they would tan- 
talizingly say, was usually the beginning of the tor- 
ture. Firebrands and necklaces of hot hatchets 
were resorted to. Shower-baths of hot ashes and 
coals, and various other amusements followed. 

The Canadians who had assisted in torturing the 
prisoner told the father that he endured the torment 
five hours, and that the unfortunate had, up to the 
time of his death, insisted that he was an Illinois 
who had been taken prisoner by the Foxes in his 
infancy and had been adopted by them. He could 
offer no proofs of this assertion, and suffered slow 
death in consequence. Unlike most savages, when 
submitted to the tortures, this prisoner uttered dis- 
tressing cries. An old Illinois warrior, whose sons 
had been killed by the Foxes, inspired by re- 
venge, did more than others to torture the prisoner 
in every way that he could invent. Finally the 
sufferer's cries excited the pity of one who, with a 
view to ending his misery, enveloped him in cloth- 
ing of dry grass and set fire to it. As he still 
breathed after the grass had been consumed, the 
children were permitted to pierce his body with 
arrows. Usually, where the prisoners did not die 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 



245 



bravely, it was a woman or a child that was per- 
mitted to give the stroke of death, as he did not 
merit to die by the hand of a warrior. 

Father Charlevoix, the Jesuit priest who told the 
story, was a fair historian, but the fact that he, like 
Bancroft, gave to the Jesuit missionaries credit for 
most of the discoveries in America, rather than to 
the traders who ever preceded them, becomes 
apparent to his readers. The traderssometimes put 
on the cloak of religion, by taking missionaries with 
them in their excursions, in order to win commer- 
cial privileges from the zealous Christian king of 
France. 

Charlevoix was observing, and tells us much in 
regard to the region of country that we now see to 
have become one of the garden spots of the world. 
Passing down the Illinois river, he mentions many 
tributaries thereof. "The largest," he wrote, "is 
named the Pisticoui and comes from the beautiful 
country of the Mascoutins, and it has at its mouth 
a rapid named La Charboniere, because of the rich 
coal-beds found on either hand. One sees on this 
route little more than immense prairies, sown with 
little bunches of woods that appear to have been 
planted by the hand of man. The grasses are so 
high that one becomes lost but for paths that are as 
well beaten as in well-populated countries. How- 
ever, nothing passes over them but buffalo and, 
from time to time, herds of deer and antelope." 

Along the Pestekouy (the Fox river) for a distance 
above its mouth, the soil has been turned, during 
recent years, to strip the beds of coal that lie 
unconformably upon the St. Peter's Sandstone 



246 LOST MARAMECH 

through which the ancient Pestekouy cut its way. 
Where was this rapid may now be the Dayton dam 
that turns the waters of the river into the canal 
feeder at Ottawa. The father does not tell us that 
he passed up the Pestekouy, but he certainly did 
have correct information regarding it. The Peste- 
kouy is laid down on all maps as heading far up in 
the country of the Mascoutins, and the father could 
not have better spoken of the richness of the region 
through which it runs had his canoe stemmed its 
current. 

Near where heads the stream, at one of its many 
summer-sought enlargements, is laid down Pistakee 
lake, that still bears the erstwhile name of the river. 
The river and lake were so named because of the 
herds of buffalo that grazed on the bordering 
prairies. In Lanman's History of Michigan (1839), 
on the map, is shown a bit each of Illinois and Wis- 
consin, and there we find, above the lake, the word 
"PISTAKA." As there seen, the river also persists 
in being known by its ancient name, Pistaka, the 
English interpretation of the French spelling Peste- 
kouy. 

While passing down the Illinois river the father 
met the Illinois and Miami tribes. The latter 
claimed to him to have originally come from the 
sea, far to the west. These tribes united firmly in 
i697,[for the first time, succeeded in making a stand 
against the Iroquois and, having driven them back, 
forced them into the treaty of peace of 1702. {Mis- 
sissippi Basin, p. 15.) 

The Illinois and Foxes were still enemies, and the 
former, in 1722, captured the nephew of Oushala, 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 



247 



the principal Fox war chief, and burned him alive. 
War resulted. {Starved Rock, p. 49.) The Foxes 
then attacked the Illinois and drove them to the top 
of Starved Rock and held them there at their mercy. 
These Illinois were of the Peoria branch, the last to 
cling to the region about the famous stronghold of 
La Salle; all the other Illinois had fled to the west. 
Mr. Hebbard, in Wisconsin under the Dominion of 
France, tells us: "Unluckily we know nothing of the 
details of the siege, except the number of the slain — 
twenty Peorias and one hundred and twenty of the 
besiegers — but the bare figures are quite eloquent. 
They tell not of a mere blockade, but of fierce 
assaults, storming parties, desperate attempts to 
scale the heights — the old story of Foxes' fury and 
reckless courage." The author of Starved Rock 
tells us that the "news of this attack on the Peorias 
having reached Fort Chartres, a detachment of a 
hundred men, commanded by Chevalier d'Artagui- 
ette and Sieur de Tisne, was sent to their assistance. 
Before these reinforcements reached the Rock, 
however, the Foxes raised the siege and departed." 
The Peorias, on or about this time, abandoned their 
home near the Illinois river, and united with the 
other branches of the tribe at Kaskaskia; so that, 
after all, the Foxes again had control of the very 
heart of New France, along the Illinois river. "It 
was a grave disaster to the French," Charlevoix 
says, "for now that there is nothing to check the 
raids of the Foxes, communication between Canada 
and Louisiana became less practicable." The hand- 
ful of warriors of the Fox tribe were so troublesome 
to the French that the matter was taken up at Ver- 



248 LOST MARAMECH 

saillcs, France, and it was decided "that the Foxes 
must be effectually put down and that His Majesty 
would reward the officer who could reduce or rather 
destroy them." It seems from the above that the 
last of the. Illinois left the Rock in 1722, and all 
historians substantially agree as to this date; but 
when I write the account of the struggle between 
the French and allies on one hand and the Foxes on 
the other, eight years later, we shall find certain of 
the allies referred to in the military reports from 
which I shall quote, as the "Illinois of the Rock." 
It seems from this that some of the Peoria branch of 
the Illinois tribe for sometime had been called "the 
Illinois of the Rock," and that the braver ones hov- 
ered about their old hunting-grounds and thus, as 
we shall find, were among the first to give warning 
of the attempt of the Foxes to pass through the 
former hunting-grounds of the Illinois to those of 
the Iroquois, where they hoped to find an asylum. 

While so near let us learn of the Rock. Echoes 
of forgotten tragedies and romance seem to resound 
over Starved Rock, and traditions of sad events 
seem to be whispered by the soughing oaks and 
sighing pines that crown the summit of this natural 
fortress. A half century ago a pretty story was 
written that found its' way into the school readers 
of the day, entitled Starved Rock, or The Last of 
the Illinois. Purely fiction though it probably 
was, all there depicted might have been. So 
charmed was I with the story that whenever oppor- 
tunity offered I visited the place. A more fertile 
field for the flowers of romance cannot be found. 
I have stood upon the summit and watched the ris- 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 249 

ing sun over the westward-flowing Illinois river that 
narrows to the sight until it is lost in the distant 
bend. Beautiful islands, that were the fields of the 
natives, divide the river; and there are still fields 
that rustle in the summer winds as did the fields of 
those who, two hundred years ago, taught the 
intruders to plant and tend the golden corn, 
Buffalo Rock, on the river's northern bank, for 
many years was the home of a branch of the Miami 
tribe brought there by La Salle who, at a treaty 
held on the St. Joseph river, convinced them that it 
was to their interest to unite with the Illinois for 
common defense. A rock indeed, but not a barren 
one. Its surface was, back in geological ages, cov- 
ered unconformably by a seam of coal, the debris of 
ferns, sturdy as the palms of our day, and a thin 
seam of carboniferous shales and surface soil. 
Great trees offered shade, and blue grass carpeted it. 
Where once were the cabins of these people the soil 
has been stripped, by the enterprising miner, for the 
fossil sunshine beneath. This rock, covering a large 
area, precipitous at nearly all points, was a place of 
easy defense. 

One gathers from the description given by most 
recent writers that what is now known as Starved 
Rock is a promontory, but this is not true, although 
half the pleasure-seekers who visit it, and tire not of 
telling of its beautiful surroundings, come away 
believing it to be but a height thrust northward from 
the range of hills that are upon the same plane as 
the prairie beyond the woods that border the river. 
The fact is that the path that leads from the river 
passes up to a neck that connects two otherwise iso- 



250 LOST MARAMECH 

lated rocks. The one upon which was the ancient 
fort is somewhat higher and larger, and rises with a 
sheer front from the river. Back of this double- 
summited rock is a well-defined swamp that is 
drained by a small stream passing to the east, and 
north into the river. To the west the land is low, 
and during the rainy season the Rock may well be 
considered an island, for upon the west side also the 
water then flows down a slight ravine to the river. 

Although the site of Fort St. Louis has never been 
lost, Francis Parkman claims to have discovered it. 
The tales of early French affairs in the west identify, 
and a multitude of two-centuries-old maps mark its 
place. Some late writers lead us to the old Shawnee 
earthworks on the neighboring hills, and others say 
that on Lovers' Leap, Tonty built the fort. 

"Lovers' Leap" is but a cliff terminating an exten- 
sion of the prairie and, not being "isolated and 
approachable only at a single point," cannot have 
been referred to as "the Rock." The definition of 
the French word roche is given as a rock "very 
large and isolated." 

A question as to the location of Fort St. Louis has 
been raised by the Hon. Perry Armstrong, of Mor- 
ris, Illinois, and uncertainty is also entertained by 
others, which I attribute to unfamiliarity with the 
early French records and maps, many of which, it 
may be said, have not long been accessible. More 
than a score of maps before me show the fort on the 
south side of the Illinois river, somewhere between 
the mouth of the Fox river and the Vermilion. 
This general location has never been disputed, but 
the exact place of the Rock is the matter con- 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 251 

troverted. Before turning to the French writers, 
every one of whom spent either days or months or 
years at the post, one may well read what Mr. Arm- 
strong says, in his valuable article on "The Piasa" : 

"Standing on the south bank of the Illinois river, 
about eight miles below the city of Ottawa, is a sin- 
gularly shaped St. Peter's Sandstone rock, which 
rises up from the river's edge one hundred and 
forty-seven feet. Its surface embraces an area of 
about half an acre* and is overlaid with earth sev- 
eral feet deep, studded with a few small red cedar 
trees. It is circular in shape, and its walls are 
nearly perpendicular, except a small space on the 
south side, where persons can climb up. But this 
passageway is so narrow that it was easily defended 
by those on the summit." 

Now follows La Salle's description of the Rock, 
written in 1682, or possibly 1683 (Margry, II., 175): 

"It is situated six leaguesf below the said village 
[Kaskaskia, which shifting village must then have 
been near the mouth of the Fox river], on the left 
bank in descending the river on the summit of a 
rock, steep nearly all around; the river bathes at the 
foot, so that one can draw water to the top of the 
rock which is about six hundred feet around. It is 
inaccessible except on one side, where the ascent is 
yet quite high." 

* By pacing I have made the area of the Rock to be about 
^ of an acre upon its level summit, but, if taken over all, an 
acre is not far out of the way. Differences in the way of meas- 
uring its area have been the cause of the different estimates. 

f A French land league was then 2.42 miles. Distances 
were guessed by the travelers, who, as Charlevoix says, almost 
always overestimated, because of the difficulty of traveling. 



252 



LOST MARAMECH 



La Salic again wrote (Margry, II., 122): "The vil- 
lage of the Illinois is on the north side of the river. 
On the south is a great rock, very high, sharp and 
almost everywhere steep, with the exception of one 
place, where it inclines to the edge of the water." 

Nicholas La Salle (said by Margry not to have 
been in the same line of descent as the great 
explorer) wrote in 1683: "He proceeded to make a 
fort of wood on a rock on the border of the river of 
the Illinois, face to face with their village." 

Tonty says (Margry, I., 613), in speaking of La 
Salle: "He came to join me on the 30th of Decem- 
ber, and during the winter we there constructed the 
Fort of St. Louis on an inaccessible rock, whither La 
Salle had induced the Shawnees to come." 

Charlevoix, who visited the place in 1721 (VI., 
119, edition of 1744), makes as bad an estimate of 
distances as any when he places the fort a league 
from Buffalo Rock, and the latter only a league 
from the mouth of the beautiful "Pisticoui," the 
country bordering which he praises so highly. "At 
the end of another league [from Buffalo Rock, 
where was the fort of the Miamis], on the left, one 
sees a similar rock, which has been named sim- 
ply Le Rocher; this is a plateau, much elevated, 
two hundred feet of which border the river, which 
river is here much enlarged. The Rock is almost 
perpendicular and, at a distance, one takes it for a 
fortress. One yet sees there some remains of pali- 
sades, because the Illinois had formerly made there 
an entrenchment, in which it was easy for them to 
seek shelter in case of any irruption on the part of 
their enemies. Their village is at the foot of this 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 253 

rock on an island, which, with several others, all of 
a marvelous fertility, separate, at this place, the 
river into two channels quite large." 

Joutel, who spent the winter of 1687-88 at the fort, 
wrote: "Fort Louis is in the country of the Illinois 
and seated on a steep rock about two hundred feet 
high, the river running at the base of it. It is forti- 
fied with stakes and palisades only, and some houses 
advancing to the edge of the rock. It has a very 
spacious esplanade, or place of arms. The place is 
naturally strong and might be made more so by art, 
at little expense. Several of the natives live in it, 
in their huts." 

La Potherie, who wrote in 1704 (Vol. II., 141) 
says, speaking of La Salle: "He established him- 
self upon a steep rock, which was accessible only 
by a little path." 

It is plain to one familiar with the surrounding 
country that these descriptions apply to none other 
than Starved Rock. 

I now refer to Mathieu Sagean, whose travels, 
both real and imaginary, extended from 1683 to 
1699, not because the unlettered man can be consid- 
ered to have been an authority, but because he was 
a contemporaneous traveler and conversant with the 
country, though it is doubtful if he ever saw Fort 
St. Louis. In the following (Margry, VI., 99) he 
probably repeats descriptions given by others: "De 
La Salle and his troups went to the country of the 
Illinois, another nation on the borders of the said 
river, about eighty leagues farther up, where they 
established Fort Saint Louis, upon an island adjacent 
to the mainland, with which they communicated by 



254 



LOST MARAMECH 



means of a drawbridge. It took six or seven months 
to build the fort, with the help of the savages, after 
which La Salle, having left De Tonty, a French gen- 
tleman, in command," etc. Reference to Tonty as 
being a Frenchman, shows that Sagean knew little 
of him personally, but his description of the Rock is 
not bad. 

The opinion that the site of the fort was prac- 
tically an island, is borne out by the facts; for 
Starved Rock is bounded by the river in front, and 
in the rear by ponds, swamps and a little stream 
leading therefrom. 

Accounts lead to the conclusion that a bridge led 
to the gate of the palisades; and careful digging 
out of the debris, with a cane, disclosed to me one 
of the steps, and part of the other, in which were 
laid the long timbers that formed the stringers of 
the bridge which, only a few feet high, reached, 
with a slight incline, part way up the steep path- 
way. The bridge may have had a draw, as Sagean 
says; probably it had, for that would have been 
wise. 

I seem to stand again, as I once stood, upon the 
western crest of the Rock, and watch the coming 
storm. Beautiful islands part the waters of the 
river, and the down-pouring sheet, lighted by light- 
ning flashes, hides, as it approaches, first one and 
then another of the verdure-clad islands until the 
storm bursts with fury, as if to attack this strong- 
hold of Nature. What a battle of the elements! 
And, after the storm, what beauty! The clouds pass 
to the east; a vista is opened to the north, reaching 
far over fields of corn so like those of the long ago. 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 255 

Beyond the hills are the prairies where for centuries 
the buffalo grazed and were hunted for food, 
raiment, and trade by the people of the valley. To 
the north and west, upon the little eminence in the 
direction of the modern town of Utica, one sees the 
burial-places, now made more green by the thirst- 
quenched grasses. What opportunities for contem- 
plation! Upon another little eminence, where a 
farmhouse is seen, one may well suppose that there 
the Illinois, when attacked by the Iroquois in 1680, 
erected the temporary fort which they were treacher- 
ously led to abandon by pretensions of peace. To 
the west and south in the valley we can place the 
cabins of the Shawnees, the Algonquin tribe that 
returned to the north not many years before, from a 
sojourn in Florida. Upon the hill to the southeast 
the marks of an ancient fortification are found, and 
along the river bank a few mounds mark the resting- 
places of an earlier people. Burned stones and 
flint-chips only are left to show where labored the 
living and lie the dead. The canoes, chiseled from 
the great cottonwood trees that bordered the banks 
then as now, are in dust; the erstwhile fields upon 
the islands are now tended by alien hands. Beauti- 
ful full-clad trees border these cornfields which are 
no greener nor better tended than those worked by 
the dark daughters of the field and forest, when 
America knew no white race; and when comes the 
autumn these fields are no richer in the golden yield 
that forms the greatest boon ever granted to a 
usurping people, than those garnered by the red 
man. Had we been susceptible another boon those 
people might have left us — a greater sense of virtue 



256 LOST MARAMECH 

and honesty than we possess. But alas, to him we 
taught the vices of civilization, but scoffed at him 
as a teacher of virtues! 

While we are standing upon this stronghold of 
Nature the mind wanders, and the labors, hopes, and 
fears of several generations are brought before us. 
Around the border of this rock is still the heaped 
earth that held the palisades placed by Tonty. On 
the western crest the conformation of the surface 
leads us to think that it was there La Salle planted 
one of his little cannon, brought in bark canoes from 
Montreal. Fragments of cinders show where stood 
the blacksmith's forge, fed by coal found near by. 
Flint chips strew the surface, and these indicate that 
the artisan of the forge was not the only maker of 
arms of the chase and weapons of war. Near the 
middle of the summit is a leveled area where, no 
doubt, stood the magazine in which stores for trade 
and peltry received in trade were placed. Along 
the palisades, to the south, seem to have been the 
cabins where dwelt the officers and men who gar- 
risoned Fort St. Louis, which was practically the 
headquarters of France in the fertile prairie-lands 
of the west. Where stood the great out-reaching 
poles, placed by Tonty to aid in drawing water from 
the river, I have found no marks to determine; but 
by the sides of the narrow stairway, at the south, 
may still be seen one well-preserved niche, and 
another less preserved, showing where rested the 
timbers of the gangway by which part of the ascent 
was made easy, and up and over which the timbers 
cut for palisades were drawn. The tooth of time 
has changed the form of the Rock, no doubt, by cut- 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 257 

ting here and there. One may now step down 
through a narrow cleft to a ledge, upon the north 
side, and wend his way to the river. Starved Rock 
has now two places of ascent. It matters little 
whether this stronghold was accessible at these two 
points when the tragedies were enacted, for each 
ascent is easy of defense. Knowing the Rock well, 
it would be quite possible for one to pass down the 
crevice and along the ledge, in the darkness of 
night, and reach the water. Tradition tells us of at 
least one escape, probably by this way. 

Starved Rock! Why so called? By the French 
it was christened La Roche. We know not by what 
poetic name the natives knew it. The story of 
starvation, as told by tradition, prompted the writer 
of the beautiful romance, to which I have referred, 
to give the name by which we know it now. Be 
that as it may, the mouldering bones, turned to the 
sun by curiosity hunters, show us that there at least 
was death, and the specter of hunger at once rises 
before us. 

Starved Rock! When we read Tonty's account, 
what so stirs us at the sound of that name? 
When gazing over this placid river, its waters gli- 
ding at the foot, the scene becomes animated; the 
whole a battlefield where, two centuries ago, the 
Illinois fought for life and the Iroquois for scalps 
and slaves — a scene of carnage and flight. In the 
fields of corn I seem to see the Iroquois busy gather- 
ing a supply to serve them in their pursuit of the 
fleeing Illinois; to see, not many leagues down the 
river, on the little peninsula, the loved ones of 
the warriors, anxious and watching, awaiting any turn 



258 LOST MARAMECH 

of events that will permit escape from torture. I 
seem to see the council where stood Tonty pleading 
for peace between the invaders and the invaded; to 
hear the Iroquois chief boasting that they will eat the 
Illinois. There Tonty, in his anger, kicks away the 
package of beaver skins intended to bribe him to 
forsake the Illinois, and then I see the flashing eyes 
of the chief who warns him to leave at once. 
Tonty and his companions take heed and paddle 
laboriously against the rapid current. The Illinois 
have left their village to seek their women and chil- 
dren, and the Iroquois soon start in pursuit, on the 
opposite side of the river. Day after day we trace 
them; the followers hurry on to keep pace with the 
followed, the river only between them. Sad indeed 
the fate of the pursued! As they pass along the 
river they disperse, the better to escape; but a por- 
tion are overtaken, and warriors, women, and chil- 
dren, are burned at the stake or led prisoners to the 
homes of the Iroquois. Many charred bodies stand- 
ing tied to trees tell the sad, sad ending. 

So calm that river! Who can tell where, in our 
country, more blood was ever shed than flowed and 
enriched the sod along its banks? 



CHAPTER XV 

By 1728 patience had again ceased to be a virtue 
with the French, and again they sought utterly to 
annihilate the Foxes. The adventure of De 
Lignerie is told us by the Recollet Father Emanuel 
Crespel. (Smith's His. Wis., I., 339.) The father 
recites that he was withdrawn from his curacy and 
appointed confessor to a party of four hundred 
Frenchmen which the Marquis de Beauharnois had 
joined to eight or nine hundred savages, principally 
Iroquois, partly of the Christian branch settled 
among the French. We shall see how much influ- 
ence the gentle father had in softening the hearts of 
the French and their allies. 

The troops commanded by De Lignerie "were 
commissioned to go and destroy a nation called the 
Foxes." The journey was begun on the fifth of 
June, 1728, by passing up the Ottawa river in birch- 
bark canoes. Portage was made into Lake Nip- 
pissing, and thence into Georgian Bay. While 
passing up the Ottawa and the smaller rivers on 
their way, as it was not possible for all to travel 
together, the army was divided into small parties, 
and the first to pass awaited the others at a place 
called the Prairie, on the border of Lake Huron. 
At the time of embarkation from that point, July 
26, the father celebrated mass and, no doubt, offered 
prayers for the interposition of Divine Providence 
on behalf of the Frenchmen and, possibly, for favor- 

259 



2 6o LOST MARAMECH 

able winds. Re that as it may, the winds hurried 
them on to such an extent that they reached Macki- 
naw, about two hundred and forty miles distant, in 
six days, where the good father takes the pains to 
tell us that he consecrated two flags. The army 
soon departed and entered Lake Michigan, but was 
there detained two days by the wind. Ill though 
the winds were, they blew some good, for it gave 
the hungry party an opportunity to take several 
moose and elk. "The hunters were so polite," the 
father adds, "as to offer to share with us. We 
made some objections at first, but they compelled us 
to accept their present, saying that, since we had 
shared with them the fatigues of the journey, it was 
right that they should share with us the comforts 
which they had found, and that they should not con- 
sider themselves as men if they acted in a different 
manner toward others." 

The discourse, which one of the men translated 
into French, affected the father very much, and he 
cried: "What humanity in savages, and how many 
men might be found in Europe to whom the title of 
barbarian might much better be applied than to these 
inhabitants of America! The generosity of our sav- 
ages merited the most lively gratitude on our part." 
The army passed along down to Green Bay, and, 
says the father: "The next day we crossed over to 
the Folles Avoines* in order to invite [provoke] the 
inhabitants to come and oppose our landing. They 
fell into the trap and were entirely defeated." The 
Christian father was indeed very much affected by 
the kindness of the Indian huntsmen, but he does 

* A harmless tribe on Green Bay. 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 261 

not tell us that the setting of a trap, into which 
these poor people fell and hence were defeated, 
excited any feeling of pity in his heart. "About 
midday," he goes on to say, "on the 17th we were 
ordered to halt until evening in order that we might 
reach the post at The Bay during the night, as we 
wished to surprise the enemy who we knew were 
staying with their allies, the Sacs, whose village lies 
near Fort St. Francis. At twilight [dusk] we com- 
menced our march, and about midnight we arrived 
at the mouth of the Fox river, at which point our 
fort is built. As soon as we had arrived there M. de 
Lignerie sent some Frenchmen to the commandant 
to ascertain if the enemy were really at the village 
of the Sacs, and, having learned that we ought [were 
likely] still to find them there, he caused all the 
savages and a detachment of French troops to cross 
over the river in order to surround the habitations, 
and then ordered the rest of our troops to enter the 
village. Notwithstanding the precautions that had 
been taken to conceal our arrival, the savages had 
received information of it, and all had escaped with 
the exception of four. These were presented to our 
savages, who, after having diverted themselves with 
them, shot them to death with arrows." 

Although the good father was not shocked at the 
trap that was set, into which the Folles Avoines 
fell and in which they were killed, yet his heart soft- 
ened later, for he continues: "I was much pained 
to witness this terrible spectacle, and the pleasure 
which our savages took in making these unfortunate 
persons suffer, causing them to undergo the horror 
of thirty deaths before depriving them of life, I 



262 LOST MARAMECH 

could not make accord with the manner In which 
they had appeared some days before. I would 
willingly have asked them if they did not perceive, 
as I did, this opposition of sentiment, and have 
pointed out to them what I saw commendable in 
their proceedings; but those of our party who 
might have served as interpreters were on the other 
side of the river, and I was obliged to postpone 
until another time the satisfaction of my curiosity. 
After this little coup de main we went up Fox 
river, which is full of rapids and is about thirty- 
five or forty leagues in length. The 24th of August 
[1726] we arrived at the village of the Puants [Win- 
nebagos], much disposed to destroy any inhabitant 
that might be found there; but their flight had pre- 
ceded our arrival, and we had nothing to do but to 
burn their wigwams and ravage their fields of Indian 
corn, which is their principal article of food. We 
afterward crossed over the little Fox lake, at the 
end of which we camped; and the next day (day of 
St. Louis), after mass, we entered a small river 
which conducted us into a kind of swamp, on the 
borders of which were situated the grand habitations 
of those we were in search of. Their allies, the 
Sacs, doubtless informed them of our approach, and 
they did not deem it advisable to await our arrival, 
for we found in their village only a few women, 
whom our savages made their slaves, and an old 
man, whom they burned to death at a slow fire with- 
out appearing to entertain the least repugnance 
toward committing so barbarous an action." 

Again the sentiments of the father seem to have 
been somewhat mixed. Whether the burning was 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 263 

repugnant to him (such as was practiced as a means 
of conversions in some parts of Europe at that 
time), or the burning of an old man because he was 
an enemy, we are left to judge for ourselves. I am 
led to believe that the father was very human, not- 
withstanding his assumed divine mission. Farther 
on the father tells us: "This appeared to me a more 
striking act of cruelty than that which had been 
experienced toward the four savages found in the 
village of the Sacs. I seized upon this occasion and 
circumstance to satisfy my curiosity about that of 
which I have just been speaking. There was in our 
company a Frenchman who could speak the Iro- 
quois language. I entreated him to tell the savages 
that I was surprised to see them take so much pleas- 
ure in tormenting an unfortunate old man; that the 
rights of war did not extend so far, and that an act 
so barbarous appeared to me to be in direct opposi- 
tion to the principle which they had professed to 
entertain toward all men. I was answered by an 
Iroquois who, in order to justify his companions, 
said that when they fell into the hands of the Foxes 
and Sacs they were treated with still greater cruelty, 
and that it was their custom to treat their enemies 
in the same manner that they would be treated by 
them if they were vanquished. I was about to give 
him some further reasons when the orders were 
given to advance upon the last stronghold of the 
enemy. This post is situated upon the borders of a 
small river which empties into another called the 
Wisconsin, which latter discharges itself into the 
Mississippi, about thirty leagues from there. We 
found no person there, and as we had no orders to 



264 LOST MARAMECH 

go any farther, we employed ourselves several days 
in destroying the fields in order to deprive the 
enemy of the means of subsisting there." 

Bcauharnois did not regard the march as useless. 
"It is certain," he wrote September 1st, 1728, to the 
French minister of war, "that half of these nations, 
who number four thousands souls, will die of hun- 
ger, and that they will come in and ask for mercy." 

In a private letter he repeats his instructions to 
De Lignerie in regard to the expedition. The let- 
ter states that De Lignerie made use of all his skill 
in his efforts to succeed in the expedition, but found 
it impossible to surprise the enemy, they having 
knowledge of his march. Three Puants and a Fox, 
who were discovered by some Sacs whom he had 
brought from Mackinaw, were taken by him. These 
four savages were bound and sent to the tribes, who 
put them to death the next day. He afterward 
continued his march, Beauharnois writes, at the 
head of one thousand savages and four hundred and 
fifty Frenchmen, to the village of the Puants, and 
then to that of the Foxes, who had fled, some 
escaping by swimming. In the four villages he 
captured two women and a girl and a man, who 
were killed and burned. The Foxes had left four 
days before, taking the old men, women, and chil- 
dren in canoes. Marching by land the warriors kept 
pace along the banks. De Lignerie urged his allies 
to pursue the Foxes, but only a portion would con- 
sent, the others saying that the Foxes were too 
much in the lead to be overtaken. The French had 
nothing to eat but Indian corn, and having a march 
of about four hundred leagues before them on their 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 265 

return, by which the safety of the army was endan- 
gered, it was decided to burn the four Fox villages, 
their forts, and their huts, and to destroy all that 
they could find in their fields — Indian corn, beans, 
and pumpkins, of which they had a great abundance. 
The French and allies did the same execution 
among the Puants. 

In returning, the French passed by a village of 
Sacs. These savages told the Marquis, in a council 
of the tribes, that they no longer wished to stay 
with the French, for fear of the Foxes, and that they 
were going to retire to the river St. Joseph. As 
he could not reassure the Sacs, De Lignerie burned 
the fort lest the Foxes or their allies should take 
possession of it and thus fortify themselves and 
make war upon the Folles Avoines, said, since their 
defeat, to have become allies of the French. 

The failure of De Lignerie was attributed to his 
long stay at Mackinaw and to the fact that a Potta- 
watomie, who had come from Green Bay with four 
others, three of whom did not appear, was sent back 
to his comrades by De Lignerie to say that he had 
come to talk with the tribes there, and even with 
the Foxes, who were two days distant. At this the 
Pottawatomie warned the Foxes of all that he had 
seen in the army, and they fled at once. The 
French and allies wished to march upon them, but 
De Lignerie would not hasten his departure. The 
murmur was very general against him in the army, 
and the savages in their speeches did not spare him. 

De Lignerie had attempted to make peace with 
the Foxes and other tribes in 1726, when it was 
thought best to grant the request of Ouchata, the 



266 LOST MARAMECH 

principal chief of the Foxes, to have a French offi- 
cer in the country to aid him in restraining his young 
warriors from bad thoughts and actions. It was 
believed better, however, that the commandant at 
La Point, on Lake Superior, endeavor to withdraw 
the Sioux from an alliance with the Foxes, which it 
was thought might be done by presents, and lead 
them to hope for a missionary and other French- 
men, as they had often desired. It was afterward 
regretted that the same instructions were not given 
to the officers commanding at Detroit and at the 
river St. Joseph, in order that the neighboring 
nations might be detached from the Foxes, and 
that those officers, in case of war, might be able to 
prevent the Foxes from seeking an asylum with the 
Iroquois, or with any other nation where they might 
secrete themselves. De Siette, who then com- 
manded in the Illinois country, had written De 
Lignerie that the Foxes were afraid of treachery, 
and that the surest mode of securing peace was to 
exterminate them. 

As we read all this (which will be found in Wis. 
I list. Col., III., 148), we are not surprised that the 
Foxes were afraid of treachery. It seems as if it 
had been recommended to allay their fears by mur- 
dering them — a very effective remedy surely. De 
Siette had made this proposition to the council- 
general at New Orleans, and had expressed the 
same opinion to the "directors of the Company of 
the Indies." In this account we find that it was 
held that such a course would be the best expedient, 
but that nothing would be more dangerous or more 
prejudicial to the colonies of Canada and Louisiana 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 267 

than such an enterprise in case of failure. It was 
thought that it would be necessary to effect a sur- 
prise and keep them shut up in a fort, as in the last 
war (at Detroit, 1712), for in case of escape the 
Foxes and Sioux or the Iowas would return to 
destroy all the upper country; and that the French 
of both colonies would be unable to pass from post 
to post except at the risk of robbery and murder. 
It was recommended that De Siette should cause to 
be restored to the Foxes, by the Illinois, whatever 
prisoners that they had with them, and De Lignerie 
made the Foxes promise to send back to the Illinois 
their prisoners. It was recommended that the 
example of the other commandants who, by burning 
the Fox prisoners that fell into their hands, had 
thought to intimidate the Foxes and cause them to 
lay down their arms, be not followed, as that only 
served to irritate that people and aroused their 
strongest hatred against the French. 

In the council of June 7, 1728, De Lignerie spoke 
to the tribes there assembled, demanding that they 
go next spring to Green Bay and labor to put an end 
to the unjust war which these nations were waging 
against the Illinois. The Foxes replied that "since 
the Great King extended his hand to them to signify 
that he pitied them, their children and women, the 
speaker gave his word to use his efforts toward 
peace, and although the young Fox warriors were 
then at war, he expected to gain them over." 
(Wis. Hist. Col., III., 152.) 

The chiefs of the nations assembled were well dis- 
posed, and saw very clearly that there could be no 
hope for them except in obedience to the king. 



268 LOST MARAMECH 

While all this was going on, a party of Foxes 
struck the Chippewas who, being put on the defen- 
sive, killed one Fox and wounded three. They were 
not contented, however, and would have got up a 
party of warriors to attack the Foxes had they not 
been prevented by presents, and hopes held out to 
them that the Foxes would lay down the war-club. 
Beauharnois wrote from Quebec, October i, of the 
same year (1726), expressing great satisfaction that 
peace had been effected with the Foxes. De Lign- 
erie, he informs us, says that since the chiefs of 
the Foxes and Sacs gave their word to no more war 
against the Illinois, two small war-parties of young 
men of the Fox nation had gone to avenge the death 
of one of their relatives; that the greater part of 
both parties, composed of ten men, had been 
entirely defeated; that four of them had been killed 
on the spot, four wounded and taken prisoners by 
the Illinois, and that the two who escaped were 
wounded. "If the Illinois are careful," he says, 
"this affair will have no further bad results; they 
have but to send the prisoners they have taken to 
the Fox village with presents to cover their dead, 
according to usage, by which means they will dis- 
arm the Foxes and prevent them from forming new 
parties." (Wis. Hist. Col., III., 159.) 




The present and future. 



CHAPTER XVI 

In the autumn of 1727 Beauharnois felt that he 
foresaw the necessity of again making war upon the 
Foxes, and he wrote to that effect to De Siette, com- 
mandant at the Illinois. A copy of a letter De 
Siette had previously written was sent to Montreal 
to be considered by the officers there assembled. 
On August 24, 1727, Beauharnois informed De Siette 
by letter that "not being able any longer to rely 
upon the word of the Foxes given De Lignerie, 
promising to remain at peace, and as, especially 
since the death of their chiefs, war-parties are daily 
being formed, he had determined to make war upon 
them the coming year." 

May 29, 1729, Father Guignas, who accompanied 
the expedition to the Sioux, wrote to Beauharnois 
that the expedition delayed departure some time 
hoping to learn from Montreal what were the inten- 
tions as to overcoming the extreme difficulty usually 
encountered when passing through the country of 
the Foxes. Hearing nothing, the party departed 
from Mackinaw, and reached Green Bay on the 8th 
of August. They soon passed on and met some of 
the chiefs of the Puants, who received them kindly 
and feasted them. The expedition soon reached 
the village of the Foxes, twenty-two leagues (about 
fifty-two miles) from Green Bay. The father speaks 
of these people as not being so formidable as 
reported: 

269 



2/0 



LOST MARAMECH 



"Early the next morning, the 15th of the month 
of August, the convoy prepared to continue its route 
with quite pleasant weather; but a storm coming on 
in the afternoon, we arrived quite wet, still in the 
rain, at the cabins of the Foxes, a nation so much 
dreaded and really so little to be dreaded. From 
all that we could see, it is composed of two hundred 
men at most, but there is a perfect hive of children, 
especially boys from ten to fourteen years old, well 
made and formed. They are cabined on a little 
eminence on the bank of a small river, that bears 
their name, extremely tortuous or winding, so that 
you are constantly boxing the compass. Yet it is 
apparently quite wide, with a chain of hills on both 
sides, but there is only one miserable little channel 
amid this extent of apparent bed, which is a kind of 
marsh full of rushes and wild rice of almost impen- 
etrable thickness. They have nothing but mere bark 
cabins without any kind of palisade or other fortifi- 
cation. As soon as the French canoes touched their 
shore, they ran down with their peace calumets 
lighted in spite of the rain, and all smoked. 

"We staid among them the rest of this day and 
all the next, to know what were their designs and 
ideas as to the French post among the Sioux. The 
Sieur Reaume, interpreter of Indian languages at 
The Bay, acted efficiently there and with devotion to 
the king's service. Even if my testimony, sir, 
should be deemed not impartial, I must have the 
honor to tell you that Rev. Father Chardon, an old 
missionary, was of very great assistance there, and 
the presence of three missionaries who were there, 
reassured these cut-throats and assassins of the 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 271 

French more than all the speeches of the best 
orators could have done. A general council was 
convened in one of the cabins; they were addressed 
in decent and friendly terms, and they replied in the 
same way. A small present was made to them. On 
their side they gave some quite handsome dishes 
lined with dry meat." 

Referring to the establishment of the French 
among the Sioux, Beauharnois, in a letter to the 
minister of the colonies, wrote in substance: "The 
interest of religion and of the colonies is involved 
in the maintenance of this establishment, which has 
been the more necessary, as there is no doubt but 
that the Foxes, when routed, would have found an 
asylum among the Sioux had not the French been 
sent there. The docility and submissiveness mani- 
fested by the Foxes cannot be attributed to any 
cause except the good-will entertained by the Sioux 
for the French and the offers which the former made 
the latter, of which the Foxes were fully cognizant. 
It would be necessary to retain the Sioux in their 
favorable disposition in order to keep the Foxes 
respectful and defeat the measures they might adopt 
to gain over the Sioux, who will always reject their 
propositions so long as the French will remain in 
their country and their trading post there continue. 
The Foxes will, in all probability, come next year 
to sue for peace; therefore, if it be granted to them 
on advantageous conditions, there need be no appre- 
hension when going to the Sioux; and another com- 
pany could be formed, less numerous than the first, 
with whom one would make a new treaty, or make 
it with some responsible merchants able to afford 



272 LOST MARAMECH 

the outfitting, whereby these difficulties would be 
soon obviated." {Affluents of the Mississippi, p. 459.) 

We now come to the most interesting series of 
events in the history of the Foxes. There are many 
traditions, military reports, and references made by 
parties having had knowledge of important events, 
but as every one interested reported matters as they 
appeared from his point of view, there is no exact 
agreement. 

Historians do agree, however, that in 1730 a large 
part of the Fox tribe was annihilated; but where the 
defeat took place has been lost to history. David- 
son says: "The worst event of the war occurred near 
Rock St. Louis on the Illinois river." {Unnamed 
Wisconsin, p. 22.) Hebbard tells of the affair, but 
gives no opinion as to where it took place. {Wis- 
consin under the Dominion of France.) Parkman says: 
"The accounts of the affair are obscure and not very 
trustworthy. It seems that the Outagamies [Foxes] 
began the affray by an attack on the Illinois at La 
Salle's old station Le Rocher, on the river Illinois." 
{Half Century of Conflict. ) 

The physical geography of the region about 
Starved Rock enables me to determine absolutely 
that Parkman's guess is wrong, and further geo- 
graphical and historical knowledge enables me to say 
where the persecuted tribe met its greatest and last 
defeat. The earliest definite account of the struggle 
is found in the report of Beauharnois, dated May 6, 
1730. In his reports we read of an encounter of a 
party of warriors from several tribes with eighty 
Foxes. Various events of about that time are also 
mentioned. {Wis. Hist. Col., VIII., 245.) 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 



273 



Perriere Marin was a native of France, who estab- 
lished a place of deposit, called Fort Marin, on the 
Mississippi, a short distance from the mouth of the 
Wisconsin river, near what is now Wyalusing, and 
also another near Mackinaw. Between these two 
points Marin conducted an extensive traffic over the 
route formed by the Fox and Wisconsin rivers. He 
was obliged to curry favor with the Foxes who lived 
along the banks of the river of that name, at or near 
Little Butte des Morts, and to submit to the exac- 
tions of these people, in the form of tribute. The 
acts of the Foxes were very much like those of the 
buccaneers of the West Indies, or, we may say, of 
modern nations that exact duties on goods entering 
their country; and hence we cannot say that the 
Foxes were much worse than the people of the civil- 
ized nations. Be that as it may, these repeated 
piratical acts, as Marin considered them, determined 
him to drive the Foxes from their position. Tradi- 
tion and vague accounts of his eventful expedition 
leave some doubt as to the exact date of his first 
attack, but it was probably as early as the year 1730. 
He raised a considerable force at Mackinaw, which 
was increased by friendly Indians of Green Bay. 
They embarked, each boat having a full complement 
of men, well armed and concealed by tarpaulins 
large enough to cover the whole boat, such as were 
generally used to protect goods from the weather. 
Near the rapids, about three miles below but not 
within view of the Little Butte des Morts, the party 
divided, one portion going by land to the rear of 
the village to support the attack which was to be 
made by the other party in the front from the boats. 



274 LOST MARAMECH 

The men in the boats, with their guns ready for use, 
were concealed by the covers, except two men at 
the oars. The Foxes discovered the approach of 
the trader's fleet, as they supposed it to be, and 
placed out their torch and posted themselves along 
the bank and awaited the landing of the boats and 
the payment of the customary exaction. When 
near enough for an effective attack, the tarpaulins 
were thrown off and a volley of musketry and two 
swivel-guns, loaded with grape and canister, was fired 
by the soldiers, which scattered death among the 
unsuspecting savages. The living fled to their fort to 
prepare for defense, and were pursued by the troops. 
A Menominee warrior had stealthily entered the vil- 
lage and set fire to the large bark dwellings on the 
windward side, and they were soon consumed by 
the flames. The Foxes in despair sought safety in 
flight, but were met by the party which had inter- 
cepted their retreat, and they found themselves 
between two fires. Bullet and tomahawk soon 
began their work, and the scalping-knife reaped a 
rich harvest. 

"The time occupied by the bloody tragedy was 
not long," says Hon. Moses Strong, from whose 
papers I have chosen to cull these facts, "but in 
strategy, surprise, and sanguinary execution it 
probably has no parallel in the annals of Indian 
warfare. Most of the Foxes were killed or taken 
prisoners, but a few escaped up the river, and others 
were absent at the time of the engagement." 

Whether Marin was warranted in such "strategy" 
or not, I shall not say, but do not hesitate to state 
that I know of no greater display of savagery on the 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 275 

part of the red savages than the attack by the white 
savages upon these people, who for years had been 
paid tribute and were merely waiting on the shore 
for the customary distribution of gewgaws. It may 
have been this barbarous attack of Marin that 
formed the final incentive to the flight toward the 
Iroquois which ended in the massacre at the site of 
the ancient Miami town of Maramech. 

Some time early in 1730 the Foxes sent two stone 
axes to the young warriors of the Seneca branch of 
the Iroquois, who gave them to the Sachems, and 
the latter, in turn, to the Governor of Canada. 
This was the initial move in the last great tragedy. 
By this present the Foxes requested that they 
might come and live near the Senecas and join them 
in their campaigns. The Senecas were warned by 
the French not to accept the proposition of the 
Foxes. That the Six Nations* (the Iroquois) were 
altogether too strong, the French had been forced to 
believe; but the English, it is evident, favored the 
move, and had often recommended the same or sim- 
ilar plans to the Senecas. 

The Governors of New France had several times 
been ordered to annihilate the Fox tribe, and it 
became their purpose to make more strenuous efforts 
than ever before. Saint Ange was in command at 
Fort Chartres, on the Mississippi river, near what 
was then the new Kaskaskia. It was a French set- 
tlement, and to it the Illinois tribes had come and 
brought with them the name of the erstwhile great 
Illinois town, near Starved Rock, which they had 

* After defeating and absorbing the Tuscaroras the Iroquois 
were known as the Six Nations. 



276 LOST MARAMECH 

been forced to abandon years before. The Illinois 
held themselves in readiness for revenge on the 
Foxes and seemed willing to proceed with Saint 
Ange, but when others were ready they held back 
for some unknown reason. The French jeered them, 
declaring that they were only women and conse- 
quently did not know how to fight. Slavery was 
then one of the barbarous institutions at Kaskaskia, 
Cahokia, and other towns adjoining Fort Chartres; 
and the Frenchmen declared to the Illinois that 
they would take their negro slaves and join the 
other savages and defeat the Foxes. We know not 
what orders were given Saint Ange except that he 
should direct his march toward the Rock. We 
are not told whether he passed up the Mississippi 
and Illinois rivers and then the "river of the Rock," 
and struck northeast across the great prairies. We 
read from the reports, however, that the last two 
days' march was under cover of the woods. This 
leads us to believe that the march was mainly across 
great prairies. 

The summer was nearing its end; the lilies were 
giving way to the goldenrod and to the multitude 
of autumn daisies that bordered the trails. The 
grown broods of quail whirred from the tall grass, 
but they little woke the instincts of the sportsman, 
for small game was of little account as food for an 
army; but the deer and wild turkeys fared less well. 
Food, while on the march, was abundant, but the 
way was long. 

To a great extent the valley of the Riviere du 
Rocher, now the beautiful Fox river, had become 
No Man's Land, because of the long-standing wars 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 277 

between the Illinois on one side and the Foxes, 
Kickapoos, and allies on the other, who seemed bent 
on driving that people from northern Illinois, a 
region that thirty years before was one of the best 
known of the west. (See maps ante pp. 23, 28 
and 30.) It had practically been lost sight of. 
This was true to such an extent in 1730 that Per- 
rier, the Governor of Louisiana, wrote of it as "a 
country up to this time unknown to the French, 
and even to our allied savages, of whom none 
could serve us as guides." Louisiana then ex- 
tended from the mouth of the Mississippi river to 
the headwaters of every tributary, and hence the 
Riviere du Rocher was within Perrier's jurisdiction. 
Although its name has been twice changed, the 
Pestekouy still flows through smiling prairies where 
the herds that gave it name so long grazed, but how 
changed! 



CHAPTER XVII 

In July, 1730, the Illinois of the village of Kas- 
kaskia had learned that the Foxes, a short time 
previously, had taken some prisoners from among 
them and had burned the son of the great Illinois 
chief "near the Rock" which, as Ferland puts it, is 
upon the Illinois river. This and other news led 
Saint Ange to move. On the 10th day of August, 
after overtaking the three or four hundred savages 
who had passed on several days before, the army 
found itself about five hundred strong. The Kicka- 
poos and Mascoutins and the "Illinois of the Rock" 
had taken possession of the passage to the northeast 
in order to head off the Foxes, which they succeeded 
in doing; and the latter proceeded to fortify them- 
selves. 

Near the western border of Section 24 of the town 
of Little Rock, Kendall county, is what may be 
considered a freak of nature. It is a pond of con- 
siderable depth, about an acre in extent, with its 
surface twenty feet below the level of the prairie, 
and surrounded by trees. No stream enters it, nor 
does one flow from it. The pond is well adapted 
for defense. It is a fraction over two miles from 
the site of the old Fox fort on Maramech Hill, 
which leads me to believe that this was the place 
where the Mascoutins and Kickapoos awaited the 
arrival of the French, for it corresponds surprisingly 
closely to the distance at which the warriors of these 

279 



2 8o LOST MARAMECH 

tribes were located, to the northeast of the Foxes, 
which was said to be one league.* Defense was 
easy because then, as now, the pond was sur- 
rounded by a narrow belt of trees, and hence log- 
built breastworks and enclosures were of easy 
construction. This pond is a study in physical 
geography and, because of its being somewhat a 
freak of nature, it may have been considered a 
special providence by the superstitious savages. 
A pool by the wayside, it quenched the thirst; its 
surrounding shades offered to fatigued warriors a 
resting-place from the trail. All blessings were 
credited by the natives to some of the many Mani- 
tous. To what one of them may the finely wrought 
ornamental stones found on the shore of the pond 
have been offered as sacrifices? The lakelet may 
have been considered as sacred and have received 
the worship of the savage,s, as in the ancient Scandi- 
navian countries the wealth of the individual was 
often sacrificed by casting it into the waters of a 
sacred spring. So may it not have been that our 
natives considered this oasis in the far-reaching 
prairies, with its pool and shades, as a special crea- 
tion for them? Game was usually abundant, and it 
is probable that fish could there be caught, then as 
now. Because of the natural advantages and the 
exact distance and direction from the fort of the 
Foxes, I place the watching Kickapoos there. 

Saint Ange, when approaching, was informed of 
the nearness of the enemy, on the 12th of August, 
by one of the scouts who also gave information as 

* A French land league at that time was equal to 2.42 Eng- 
lish miles. 




Lettering the massive boulder. 









THE CORRECTED INSCRIPTION READS: 

hundred FrlVch^ besieged bv thirteen 

French trenches on north 'end of h 1 F' 'Th'eRoc^lo^en o f b hv 9 R h -, Captured-t|rtured-ki led 

miles south, is partly quarried away The Ms?r am p?h « £ V F " Ia , nd (Histoire du Canada), two 

.dentified and stone placed by John F 'Stewed i87 4 T 9 ^' F ™nquel.n's map of 1684, was near. Site 

interest, was to provide that after Time palsies his hand an hint &?? L' be 5?, u ? e of if s historical 

desecrated by the plow or sold for taxes blds hlS ton&ue be stlll > " raa y never be 

were of the%et,^ jj e the remains of some who doubtless 

nver and creeks havl cov/red and'S tu^f.^^^^ the 












AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 281 

to the location of the fort. This scout stated 
that he had counted there one hundred and eleven 
cabins. The advancing army was then but three 
days distant, and on the 17th, at break of day, the 
enemy was sighted. A party of forty hunters was 
forced to return to the fort. Saint Ange's army 
cautiously made its way over trails that led north- 
eastwardly across the prairies, south of the Illinois 
river, and finally followed the open timber that 
skirted the bluffs of the Riviere du Rocher (Fox 
river). When he reached the great bend, along 
which the bark and rush cabins of Maramech had 
formerly stood, he was in position to look to the 
northwest, across the river and across the bottom 
lands where had once been the cornfields of the 
Miamis. He could look up the slope (to the west and 
northwest), that forms the amphitheater now studded 
with a second growth of hickory and oak. Upon 
this amphitheater were the one hundred and eleven 
temporary shelters of the Foxes spoken of by the 
scout. Other French troops were moving else- 
where. 

Early in 1730 two Mascoutins had come to the 
river St. Joseph where M. de Villiers commanded, 
and reported that the Foxes were fighting with the 
Illinois between the Rock and the Ouiatonons 
(Weas, a branch of the Miamis, on the Wabash), 
and that the Puants, Mascoutins, and Kickapoos 
had joined the Illinois and attacked the Foxes, but 
that the Illinois had fled. In that attack six Puants 
were wounded and one killed. There were also two 
Kickapoos of the river St. Joseph killed. This news 
had the effect of awakening the French to the fact 



282 LOST MARAMECH 

that the Foxes were endeavoring to pass from their 
village in the Wisconsin region to the Iroquois, who 
for several years had been attempting to induce 
them to make this move. The commandant at St. 
Joseph put himself immediately in readiness to 
march against the Foxes, and at once sent word to 
Detroit, giving notice of what had taken place and 
of the fact that he would proceed immediately. 
Some of the Puants at Detroit and the Ottawas 
determined to take up the hatchet against the 
Foxes, but were deterred from so doing by the fact 
that a large number of their warriors were absent. 
The Foxes, when opposed by the Kickapoos and 
others, said that they were expecting a large party 
of Iroquois to come to their assistance. This was 
no doubt said in order to frighten the French, and 
allies in turn, to do which seemed to require little 
more than to cry "Iroquois!" It was known, as 
already stated, that the English had been working 
to that end and had sought to influence the Foxes 
by sending them presents by the hands of the Iro- 
quois. It was on the 6th of August, 1730, that M. 
de Villiers, commandant at the St. Joseph river, 
learned of the move the Foxes were making, and at 
once gave the information to M. de Noyelles, com- 
mandant at the Miamis. De Villiers made hasty 
preparations and started on the 10th of August, at 
the head of three hundred French and allies, to 
march against the Foxes. Upon his arrival he found 
that Saint Ange had preceded him with one hundred 
Frenchmen and four hundred savages. Me took a 
position on the right, to the northwest of the fort 
the Foxes had hastily constructed, and there located 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 283 

his little battery upon the hill across the swamp, 
which in itself protected it, where a stone has been 
placed. De Noyelles soon joined them, when the 
force aggregated about thirteen hundred men, all 
bent on the annihilation of the Foxes. 

The details of this affair are given in the various 
fragmentary military reports. They were digested 
and entered in books of record at Paris, many writ- 
ten by the same hand. It seems evident that the 
compiler omitted much and, because of lack of 
geographical knowledge of the region, erred [in his 
interpretation of the meaning of the writers. So 
far as I have been able to learn, Ferland is the only 
historian who availed himself of such of the Parisian 
records as deal with this great tragedy. He prob- 
ably had before him the account found in Cor- 
respondence General, 1732, Vol. LVII., p. 316. The 
following is a translation from the French of his 
account. {Histoire du Canada, II., 436.)* 

* In the account from which Ferland made this narration 
there is some confusion ; and no distinction is made between 
"the Rock," which is on the Illinois river and "the Rock" 
which characterizes the stream first known to the French as 
the Pestecouy and later by them called "Riviere du Rocher," 
which discharges into the Illinois river, several miles above 
the site of old Fort St. Louis. This confusion is in part 
explained by the fact that the geography of the country was 
little known to the commanders directing the movement, and 
to the writers of the military reports (see letter of March 25, 
1731, appendix). The Rock on which Fort St. Louis had 
been was well known, for it was on two direct routes between 
Louisiana and Canada ; many of the soldiers of the little army 
had, no doubt, often passed up and down the Illinois river. 
The "Riviere du Rocher" was off the main line of canoe- 
travel, but was familiar to most of the traders. 



284 LOST MARAMECH 

"In the month of October, 1728, a party of Kicka- 
poos and Mascoutins made prisoners, on the Missis- 
sippi, of seventeen Frenchmen who were descending 
[the Mississippi] from Fort Beauharnois [on Lake 
Pipin] to the Illinois country. The savages deliber- 
ated at first whether they would burn their captives 
or deliver them to the Foxes, who were demanding 
them. In the meantime Father Guignas, who was 
among the prisoners, so gained their confidence that 
he succeeded in detaching them from the Foxes, 
and induced them to ask the French for peace. 

"After five months of captivity, he descended to 
Fort Chartres with ,a few Kickapoos and Mascoutin 
chiefs, at which place Saint Ange was in command. 
Peace was concluded] according to their wishes and 
the prisoners were given their liberty. 

"Enfeebled and disconcerted by this arrangement, 
the Foxes contemplated taking refuge among the 

Ferland, in his account, does not follow the original 
manuscript very closely, as may be gathered by reference to 
his Histoire du Canada, II., p. 437. The original reads: "Les 
Quikapous, Maskoutins et Illinois du Rocher s'eslaienl 
rendus maitre des parrages die coste" du nord'esl et fut 
"vraiscmblcmcnt ce qui cotitraignet les renards de /aire un 
fort aic rocher a une lieue audessous d'eux pour se viettre 
a couvert de leurs insults." Put in plain English, the above 
might well read: "The Kickapous, Mascoutins and Illinois of 
the Rock had taken possession of the region to the northeast 
of the Foxes, and it was probably that which constrained the 
Foxes to build a fort at (near) the Rock, a league below them 
(the Mascoutins, Kickapous and Illinois of the Rock)." Fer- 
land's mistake was in putting the Foxes a league from the 
Rock instead of a league from the enemy that held the places 
to the northeast. It is true, however, that the old Fox fort is 
nearly an old French land league from the Rock. 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 285 

Iroquois, friends of the English, by passing by the 
village of the Ouiatonons [Weas], a branch of the 
Miamis living on the Wabash river, friendly to 
them. 

"But the Kickapoos and the Mascoutins pene- 
trated their schemes and gave information, at all of 
the posts, to the French of Louisiana and Canada. 
In the meantime the Illinois of the village of Kao- 
kias, in the month of May, 1730, gave information 
that the Foxes had taken some prisoners near the 
Rock, upon the river of the Illinois. This report 
induced Saint Ange to take the field; four hundred 
savages joined a hundred Frenchmen whom he had 
assembled. This little army directed itself toward 
the Rock, at a league from which the Foxes had 
stopped and had just finished building a fort. They 
had not been able to continue their journey toward 
the country of the Iroquois, for the Kickapoos and 
Mascoutins and the Illinois of the Rock were mas- 
ters of the places to the northeast. 

"On the 17th of August Saint Ange arrived in 
sight of the enemy; after having driven back into 
the fort a party of hunters, he reconnoitered the 
place where they were lodged. It was a little grove 
enclosed with palisades, situated on a gentle slope 
which rose toward the west and the northwest, 
along a little river; their retreats were made in the 
ground like the den of the Fox, of which they bear 
the name. 

"At the sound of the first gunshot fired by the 
French, the Kickapoos, Mascoutins, and the Illi- 
nois, who, for a month, had been expecting aid, ran 
up to the number of two hundred men. 



286 LOST MARAMECH 

"Thus reenforced, Saint Ange divided his forces 
in such a way as to hem in the Foxes, who had 
undertaken several ineffectual sorties. It was 
necessary to entrench, and each one worked to 
fortify himself in the post that had been assigned 
to him. On the 19th the enemy demanded to par- 
ley; they offered to deliver the slaves that they had 
before' taken on the Illinois river, and did deliver 
some; but as they sought only to procrastinate, 
Saint Ange renewed the attack on the morrow. 
During the days following he was joined by fifty 
or sixty Frenchmen and five hundred savages, Pot- 
tawatomies and Sacs, which M. de Villiers, com- 
mandant of the river Saint Joseph, had brought. 

"M. de Noyelles arrived from the other direc- 
tion, with two hundred Miamis and ten Frenchmen. 
The Foxes defended themselves bravely and ably. 
By means of presents they sought to gain some of 
their ancient allies; the Sacs treated underhanded 
with them, furnished them some ammunition and 
took measures to favor their escape. The other 
savages perceived the movements of the Sacs, and 
were on the point of attacking them when Saint 
Ange advanced, at the head of a hundred French- 
men, between the two parties, to establish order. 
The siege lasted longer than they had foreseen; 
famine reigned, not only with the Foxes, but also 
with the French and their allies. Reduced to eat 
their quivers, a part of the allies became discour- 
aged; two hundred Illinois deserted on the 7th of 
September. Fortunately, this bad example was 
not followed by others. The Foxes were pressed 
more and more; Saint Ange had a fort constructed 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 287 

which prevented them from going to the river for 
water. All expressed themselves that the time of 
surrender was near. But the 8th of September a 
violent storm, accompanied with thunder and tor- 
rents of rain, interrupted the efforts of the French. 
This day was followed by a rainy night, dark and 
cold; the Foxes profited by it and attempted to 
escape from their fort. 

"The cries of the children betrayed them, and it 
was believed that they were escaping. In the dark- 
ness that reigned it was impossible to distinguish 
friends from the enemy, and the entire night was 
passed in this uncertainty. Nevertheless, the 
French and their allies remained under arms, and 
at daylight of the 9th the freshest and most vigorous 
started in pursuit of the Foxes, who could not 
advance rapidly because of their embarrassments. 

"The women, the children, and the old men 
marched at the head; the warriors were placed last 
to protect the retreat. In an instant their ranks 
were broken, and they fled pell-mell; more than 
three hundred of their warriors were killed or taken 
prisoners; a considerable number of women and 
children perished in the fight, pursued by the Illi- 
nois of the Rock, the Mascoutins and Kickapoos. 
Fifty or sixty warriors alone escaped; but under 
different pretexts the Ouitanons and the Sacs had 
succeeded in helping many of the women and chil- 
dren to also escape the massacre of their nation. 

"The Foxes had lost many people; seventy cabins 
had been destroyed; the nation, it was said, no 
longer possessed more than thirty cabins (families); 
only a few women and a small number of children 



288 LOST MARAMECH 

remained. Some years before the Foxes prided 
themselves on the number of children they pos- 
sessed who promised a brilliant future."* 

Regarding the defeat of the Foxes, M. de Beau- 
harnois wrote to M. de Maurepas on the iSth of 
May, 173 1 : "Behold a nation humbled to the extent 
that it will no longer trouble the earth." 

THE SIEGE 

Turn loose the wings of the imagination; let it fly 
back one hundred and seventy years while we place 
ourselves upon the summit, at the northeast end of 
what is now known as Maramech Hill. There must 
have stood during the beautiful Indian summer days 
of 1730 a watchful warrior. With hand shading his 
eyes, he peers far over the "Little River" and over 
the valley toward the rising sun. He is higher than 
the reddening maple trees in the valley. With him, 
on this promontory, are other braves; they are the 
' 'watchmen of the tower. ' ' They watch not so much 
for the immediate approach of the expected enemies 
as for expected signal fires on the prairies, to the 
northeast — watch for prairie fires that, by prearrange- 
ment, are to be lit by those chosen to do double 
duty, not only to act as pickets and give warning, 
but to hunt supplies of food. 

How strange it seems to us now, sitting in com- 
fort amid plenty, to read that hunger at any time 
was felt here! In and along the streams where the 
sportsman now finds game in abundance, and tells 
big fish stories, was little food supply found in those 

* For the original documents and translation thereof see 
Appendix. 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 289 

autumn days, for the hunters dared not wander far. 
Three hundred warriors, with their women and chil- 
dren, probably more than a thousand in number, we 
seem to see here concentrated, who, unwilling to 
separate because of the watchful Mascoutins and 
Kickapoos and of the nearness of the French and 
allies, find subsistence hard to procure. From the 
hills to the north and over the prairies game has 
been frightened into receding farther than the hunt- 
ers dare go, for no one knows when the blow may 
fall; they know not when they will be startled by 
the war-cry of the Mascoutins, Kickapoos, and Illi- 
nois, joined by the expected reinforcements from 
whose well-earned rage they fled. Their stock of 
dried meat, fish, parched corn and maple sugar is 
exhausted. 

The women and children are as hungry as the 
dogs which dispute with them every morsel, and 
which, in turn, are soon to be eaten. Upon the 
crest of the hill, along the eastern side, are other 
watchmen; upon the bluffs and farther on, as far as 
the prairies that stretch away to the west, are others 
still. The lesser creek, from which they get 
their water by a covered way since having been 
driven into the stockade upon the hill, comes from 
the northwest to within a mile and then turns to the 
east, then sharply to the north and touches the hill. 
It then passes to the east along the hillside. After 
forming a channel like a letter S, it mingles its 
waters with those of the larger creek — the "Little 
River" of the French accounts. Eyes are fixed 
across the lesser creek, to the west and to the south; 
they watch for pillars of smoke by day and for the 



29 o LOST MARAMECH 

light of signal fires by night. On this great prairie, 
stretching across the river and also to the west, the 
hunters are particularly watchful; and more so 
toward the southwest, for Saint Ange is known to 
be on the march against them, from Fort Chartres, 
on the Mississippi, with his Illinois allies.* 

The prairie fires are expected to warn of his 
approach. As the heliograph serves in modern war- 
fare, so do signal fires with our native races. The 
prisoners taken, somewhere on or near the Illinois 
river and held by the Foxes, cast longing eyes in 
the direction of the expected army that is coming 
from so near the town of Kaskaskia, their last home. 
Theirs with other of the Illinois tribes were driven 
from this section, their old home, by the Foxes, 
who now hold it. The captives share the hunger of 
their captors. 

Far down the lovely Riviere du Rocher fisher- 
men are also performing the double task of supply- 
ing food, as best they can, and doing picket duty. 
We know how Saint Ange is making his approach. 
The last two days his army has moved under cover 

* A manuscript map of i8iS, in the Congressional Library at 
Washington, shows a road running north from Kaskaskia to 
Edwardsville, thence to Springfield, thence to Peoria Lake, and 
thence to the Illinois River, crossing it just below the mouth of 
the Des Plaines ; thence it follows the west shore of the river 
Des Plaines, crossing it at the site of the present city of River- 
side. The road crosses the Vermilion about twelve miles from 
Starved Rock. 

As was usually true, the road was probably an old trail, and 
it seems likely that Saint Ange took that course. He followed 
the trail that led from Ottawa to Chicagou, but turned at the 
river timber and passed up to the fort of the Foxes. 





HRaSs^sBiJ£2fc^L T V • i 






) 


WmsrMjb W&&^£$B& 



Frame ol Fox wigwam, Tama Reservation. 




Fox Wigwam, Tama Reservation. 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 291 

of the woods, along the bluffs that border the 
Riviere du Rocher on the east. 

The Foxes have made enemies of the greater part 
of the Miami tribes, and from the east they fear 
the approach of these people of the St. Joseph 
region. Far to the southeast, on the banks of the 
Wabash river, are the Ouitanons (Weas), the only 
Miamis the Foxes can call brothers. To these 
their course has been directed; the village that they 
hope may serve them as an asylum, if only for a 
time, is not far from a direct route to the Iroquois 
nation of New York, where they hope that their 
troubles may cease. 

The Foxes have made themselves so odious to 
their neighbors as to be compelled to leave the 
region of their old home on the Wisconsin and the 
Fox river that heads near by. How they came this 
far we are not told, but we know that the Kishwau- 
kee trail is the shortest route. Horses were brought 
a part of the way from New Spain by the remnants 
of La Salle's ill-fated party, but we may safely say 
that the pursued had none and, laden with their all, 
they dragged themselves along the deeply worn 
trail that climbs the northeastern end of this fatal 
hill. Having reached this place, they sought rest 
on the slope "rising toward the west and north- 
west," along the "Little River." They halted and 
constructed defenses. They levelled places and 
erected one hundred and eleven rush-mat shelters. 

The hill seeming to them to be a strategic point 
they built this stockade. The women shared the 
labor; they chopped and they dug. This ditch and 
palisade form a half-circle that is completed by the 



2Q2 



LOST MARAMECH 



very steep bluff at the south end of the hill which, 
with the log-protected rifle-pits, is a defense in 
itself. Upon the embankment a palisade of poles, 
cut from the crest of the hill, is planted. Into this 
enclosure a large part of the three hundred warriors 
and many times more women and children are 
crowded. The beautiful landscape to the south has 
no charms for them; landscapes, ever so beautiful, 
neither quiet fears nor satisfy hunger. 

The Kickapoos are the first of the enemy to 
approach, but for a time they keep somewhat 
aloof, for their number is not great. Before the 
approach of the others, the Foxes little feared 
them. Watchfulness however, has become more 
necessary because of their nearness. The fatal hour 
is approaching. Far to the south the night sky is 
faintly lighted. Is it the expected signal or an acci- 
dental prairie fire run wild from some hunter's 
camp? The anxiety, already great, becomes 
intense. Breathless hunters report the approach of 
the enemy. The French and their allies, in turn, 
are watchful and cautious, so amidst uncertainties 
they are. 

Saint Ange, in starting, had directed his little 
army toward the Rock, but whether the erst- 
while Fort St. Louis, as guessed by some, or the 
Rock that gave this, the Riviere du Rocher, its 
second name, he was not informed; the course was 
uncertain, and he groped his way. He now has 
reason to believe that he is nearing his prey; he 
encounters forty of the Fox hunters. Finding 
them, and fearing to be led into ambush, he moves 
with greater caution still, and follows their retreat 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 



293 



with care. Now all the pickets have been driven 
in, and all the women, children, and old men 
brought from the slope along the "Little River" to 
the stockade where the trees afford their only shel- 
ter from the sun and storm. The stockade is crowded 
and food scarce, but as a covered passageway leads 
to the foot of the hill, where the smaller stream 
bathes it, water is abundant. The Fox braves still 
lie in shallow trenches they have dug along the crest 
of the hill to command the slopes. 

The French and their allies quickly take positions 
upon the bluffs surrounding this island-like hill. To 
the north, a good rifle-shot away, a part of the army 
is posted; across this valley, between this and the 
hill of the besieged, no successful sortie can be 
made — a few of the Fox riflemen can easily com- 
mand the valley and steep hillsides. 




i*M 



Site of I)e Villeir's "Cavalier" (little fort), for protecting his advance 
the swamp and up Maramech Hill. 



CHAPTER XVIII 

Standing on this isolated hill, fortified, and with 
a swamp and the creeks surrounding it, it seems 
invulnerable, unless attacked by a large force. A 
valley, densely grown with trees, bounds its steep 
sides. An eighth of a mile from the crest, and 
parallel with it, across the narrow valley, are bluffs 
that rise gradually and recede to the open prairie a 
little to the north. They are steep only in places, 
and there a body of French soldiers have taken 
position with a light field-piece. The hill occupied 
by the Foxes is long and narrow at its summit — a 
mere ridge the greater part of its length. From 
the works at the south end it extends northward a 
distance, and then turns to the northeast, finally 
increasing in height. The abrupt sides are easily 
defended, but not so with the side that "rises with 
a gentle slope to the west and northwest from the 
Little River." To defend this slope is imperative, 
for once driven to the summit, the three hundred 
warriors must necessarily extend the whole length 
of the hill, in a single line, a fourth of a mile in 
length, that can be easily broken by the attacks from 
front and rear. Between two fires such a line, held 
by much less than three hundred men, is at the 
mercy of the attacking army. 

Strategy demands that the foot of the hill, where 
it rises with a gentle slope westwardly and north- 
westwardly, be held. Across the heavily timbered 

295 



29 6 LOST MARAMECH 

valley, east of the "Little River," a mere skirmish 
line can easily pass, skulking Indian-like from tree 
to tree, or in the darkness of the night, across the 
little knee-deep river; they are protected at the foot 
of the long slope by the banks of the stream as 
safely as by the best breastworks. 

The banks of the stream once attained, the attack- 
ing army has gained vantage ground, for their rifle- 
shots can reach the very crest of the hill; and 
besides, their advance, when they wish to go farther, 
is through the woods and they can creep from tree 
to tree while the abundant force in the rear can keep 
the enemy well under cover. 

A trifling distance to the north of the little fort, 
with De Villiers' single field-piece, protected by 
great logs that bed themselves in the soil, is a 
spring in the hillside which furnishes water for the 
infantry and the men who man the single piece of 
artillery. The point of the hill at the south (across 
the smaller creek), that reaches toward us to within 
a rifle-shot of this death trap, is selected by Saint 
Ange as a strategic position. He hopes to prevent 
the besieged from reaching the water, but is 
baffled, for they succeeded by means of their cov- 
ered way down to the little creek. The ditch that 
leads down to the water is deep and well protected; 
time alone can obliterate it; it is well protected by 
warriors in the rifle-pits. 

Hunger sees no beauty in the great river that, so 
near, flows gently from the direction of the rising 
September sun for a little distance, turns south- 
wardly and passes the Rock, nearly a league 
away. Menacing the overcrowded palisade, be- 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 297 

tween this hill and the "Little River" is another 
part of the besieging army. Thus surrounded, 
death is certain to the besieged, for successful resist- 
ance seems impossible. To surrender is to offer 
themselves to torture at the stake. The conditions 
seem desperate, for the pangs of hunger touch alike 
the old and young. The dogs are eaten and chil- 
dren gnaw the bones. The aged brood in silence. 
Warriors lie along the ridge, in irregular shallow 
trenches, and guard the steep that drops to the 
northward, while others, along the same ridge, are 
prepared to resist any approach of warriors up the 
gentle slope from the sheltering banks of the 
"Little River," where hides Saint Ange's main body 
of troops. 

The Foxes are not alone hungered, for the be- 
siegers fare little better. Although they have the 
fertile prairies around them and water in abundance, 
still they hunger, for so large a body of hunters has 
frightened the deer and buffalo far away. To such 
an extent does famine press that some of the allies 
are forced to eat their quivers, and some desert in 
order to obtain food. Fiercely they resolved to do 
their share in annihilating the Foxes, but hunger 
now cows them. The fields of corn that erstwhile 
bordered the river are no more For many years 
they have not been cultivated, for this region has 
been No Man's Land. The incursions of the north- 
ern tribes, in their struggles to rob the Illinois of 
the garden spot of the west, and the efforts of the 
Illinois to drive intruders away, made it unsafe 
for all. 

Only occasional shots need be fired, and those 



298 lost maramech 

merely to remind the Foxes of the continued pres- 
ence of their vengeful enemies; the French and 
their allies have only to play a waiting game. In 
the darkness of the night De Villiers' forces charge 
up the steep hill at the north and dig deeper the 
trenches made by the Foxes to protect their pros- 
trate forms. The little piece of artillery across the 
valley will serve its purpose well, if need there be. 
Just behind the newly possessed trenches the 
Frenchmen place two more. The morning dawns 
and finds lines of shallow trenches within easy mus- 
ket shot of the north side of the stockade. The 
tables are now turned. The besieged must become 
the attacking party or surrender to be massacred. 
To attack Saint Ange in the open valley to the east 
will be fatal. They do not fear approach from the 
south, for a few brave warriors, in their log-pro- 
tected pits, with flying arrows can baffle all who 
come. Unpromising though sorties are, naught 
else can offer any hope of escaping the stake. A 
rush is made across the plain toward the trenches to 
drive the Frenchmen from the ridge. It fails. As 
the days pass other attempts are made with no suc- 
cess. Sullenly the Foxes keep to their stockaded 
fort. Few shots are exchanged, but long muskets 
arc ready to be thrust out between the palisades 
should the Frenchmen and allies leave their trenches 
for attack. Along the River of the Rock, at the old 
village site, the reserves of the attacking army are 
placed, and from there reliefs are sent to hold 
strategic points. 

Many of the allies are only half-hearted. The 
Foxes for many years have been their neighbors, 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 299 

and their main grievance is that the Foxes have 
plundered the French who came to trade, and thus 
interfered with their own commerce. Even to this 
time the Foxes are not fully supplied with guns, and 
yet they have wrought military wonders. The sym- 
pathies of the Sacs and the Miamis are aroused to 
such an extent that they seek to aid many to 
escape, particularly the women and children. 
These attempts to aid the besieged so anger some 
of the allies that a breaking up of the expedition 
seems likely to take place. Saint Ange marches a 
hundred Frenchmen between the angered parties 
and puts an immediate stop to the intrigue of the 
Sacs and Weas by force of arms, and restores order. 
Driven to despair, the Foxes demand a parley, but 
all terms they ask are refused. 

A favorable opportunity for the besieged to 
attempt to escape at last presents itself. It is the 
8th of September, 1730. The beautiful Indian sum- 
mer day ends in a heavy storm, and a cold night 
follows. The breath of the great lake, little more 
than fifty miles away, suddenly comes, reducing the 
warmth of mild autumn to the chill of blustering 
March. In the darkness the warriors quietly emerge 
from the stockade; with caution they creep down 
the abrupt slope at the southeastern termination of 
the palisades; the women and enfeebled grope their 
way, and children, weak from hunger, cling to 
mothers' scanty garments and shake with fear. 
Alas, the wail of infants tell of the escape! With 
what anxiety the mothers attempt to quiet them! 
On the success of that attempt escape from tortures, 
which mean a thousand death-pangs, depends. A 



3 oo LOST MARAMECH 

Sac woman, perhaps herself with babe at breast, 
also betrays the persecuted people. With warriors 
at front, resolved to die for their loved ones, they 
find their way across the "Little River," between 
the French who are camped along the larger stream 
and those who occupy the eastern slope of the 
hill. Unwatchful, the French and allies have 
sought shelter from the storm. As the fleeing ones 
pass beyond the besiegers' lines, the larger portion 
of the warriors fall behind to guard the rear. 
Enough remain in front to form an advance guard. 
The half-friendly allies of the French know of the 
escape, and some of them render assistance. The 
Foxes are not pursued, for, in the darkness, the war- 
riors cannot distinguish friend from foe; they can 
only await the dawn. To turn to the southeast and 
cross the river is impossible, and yet that is the 
direction in which all the hope of the Foxes lie. 
Were the circumstances different, to take any well- 
known trail would be wise; but they have no choice, 
and strike toward the east they must. For a mile 
they pass through the heavy timber extending across 
the valley and, for some distance, beyond the 
bkiff. In these woods, upon the eastern hill, 
they meet their fate; to move out on the prairie is 
to be surrounded at approach of day and be over- 
whelmed. 

Knowing that their departure has been discovered, 
to halt upon this hill in the heavy timber is pru- 
dent. Here they make their last stand. The Mas- 
coutins and Kickapoos take revenge and here the 
Illinois of the Rock, the very people who for years 
have been warred against by the Foxes to such an 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 301 

extent as to be driven from their homes, fully glut 
their vengeance. The prisoners, spared for a time 
only, are brought back to the camps along the 
"Little River," and to the larger stream, the 
Riviere du Rocher, where every savage art is prac- 
ticed upon them, and they perish. 

Words cannot tell the tale of horror! What brush 
can depict the agonizing scene? Women, children, 
and old men fall victims to the hatchet, for they are 
not worthy to die as warriors die. The warriors 
that survive the struggle are greater game. They 
are tied to trees, and there sing their death-songs, 
while the flames of slow fires creep around their 
lower limbs. No cry of anguish escapes them. 
Wrists tied together, their arms around the tree or 
stake, they have some freedom to walk, but only on 
beds of burning coals. In derision they are prom- 
ised warmth, and necklaces of red hot hatchets are 
placed upon their naked shoulders. Scalps are torn 
from their heads while yet they live, but with stolid 
mien they sing to the last breath. The Frenchmen 
raise no hand in pity, — such is the end! 

The frosts of autumn have dyed to crimson the 
leaves of the maples, and the blood of the natives 
has stained the sod. When comes anew the spring 
the violets shall have a brighter hue and the blue- 
bells be richer imitations of the eyes of beauty, 
springing, as they shall, from soil enriched by tears 
of agony, by blood of innocent children, and still 
more by the flesh and bones of the brave. How 
sad the scene! The maples sigh in the soft winds 
of September, but no human sigh of sympathy for 
the tortured is heard. No friend is left to weave a 



3 02 LOST MARAMECH 

wreath of autumn flowers for the loved, nor laurels 
for the slaughtered braves. 

The prophecy that after this defeat the Foxes 
would "no more trouble the earth" failed to come 
true, although the troubles remained less than they 
were before. The route from Green Bay to the 
west, up the Fox river of Wisconsin and down the 
Wisconsin river, was open for a time, and Fort 
Bcauharnois, on Lake Pepin, was reestablished. 
Scattered bands of Foxes still remained. They were 
attacked by the Sioux, and also by the Illinois, on 
the borders of "Lake Maramech," says Ferland. 
(II., 439.) Where this lake is I am unable to learn. 
Possibly it is one of those at the headwaters of the 
Fox river of Illinois, not far from the ancient 
"Great Village of Maramech." Several other tribes, 
from time to time, directed their efforts toward the 
more complete destruction of the Foxes. One of 
the last was made by Iroquois of the Lake of Two 
Mountains, north of the St. Lawrence river, joined to 
some Hurons of Detroit who asked their assistance. 
Fifty Christian Iroquois arrived at Detroit, from 
which place they departed on the 17th of October, 
1732, numbering seventy-four well-armed warriors. 
They crossed the peninsula of Michigan and built a 
fort at Chicago, where they left their sick. They 
were then conducted by two Mascoutins as far as the 
banks of the Wisconsin river, at which place some 
of the Foxes had collected. Mounting a high hill, 
they were surprised to see four or five large cabins 
in the valley. The Foxes came out to meet them. 
After they had discharged their guns, the Iroquois 
and Hurons rushed upon the Foxes, hatchet in 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 303 

hand, and forced them to take flight. They then 
pushed into the village, where they massacred a 
large number of men, women, and children. The 
attack was so fierce that the Foxes had three hun- 
dred killed and taken. The few who escaped dis- 
persed among the other nations. Thirty or forty 
men, and as many women, surrendered to De Vil- 
liers, who then commanded at Green Bay. The 
latter sent an envoy to Quebec, accompanied by two 
chiefs of these people, as hostages. One named 
Kiala, who had been the principal author of previous 
treasonable acts, was sent to Martinique. His wife 
remained some time at Lorette, but finally joined 
her husband. 

Still the Foxes could not remain quiet. They 
sought to ally themselves with a band of Sacs who 
had built a fort at Green Bay. What then followed 
is well told by Ferland. (II., 40.) 

"De Villiers arrived at Green Bay on the 6th day 
of September. At a league from the place he was 
met by Repentigny, commandant at Mackinaw, 
with sixty Frenchmen and two hundred savages. 
De Villiers had ordered Repentigny to hold himself 
in readiness to march immediately upon hearing a 
signal that was ..to consist of three gun-shots. 
Arriving at the French fort, De Villiers sent to find 
the Sac chiefs, to whom he explained that the Gov- 
ernor-General had promised to spare the lives of the 
Foxes if they would remove to Montreal. He 
declared that if they did not send the Foxes who 
were among them within a given time he would 
come for them. The time expired and no Foxes 
had appeared. De Villiers, whom Repentigny had 



304 



LOST MARAMECH 



joined, proceeded at once to the fort of the Sacs 
with some Frenchmen to demand the delivery of 
the Foxes. Moved by his courage, and without 
consulting the rules of prudence, for he only had 
nine Frenchmen with him, he undertook to tear 
down the barriers of the fort of the Sacs. Some 
chiefs commanded him to retire, because their 
young men could not be controlled, and said that if 
he continued he would surely die; but nothing 
deterred him. In a moment a gun-shot, fired by a 
Sac, laid low the son of De Villiers, by the side of 
his father. The father fired upon the first Sac that 
presented himself. A general discharge of mus- 
ketry was returned by the Sacs; De Villiers fell dead, 
and several Frenchmen were wounded. Repentigny 
was killed; also were seven other Frenchmen of his 
command. A few days later, another son of De Vil- 
liers assembled many from the friendly tribes and 
marched against the Sacs, who had abandoned their 
fort, crossing the Mississippi river, whither they had 
fled with the few Foxes who remained." 

The account of this affair is also found in Margry 
{Affluents of the Mississippi River, p. 470). The 
Sacs became much disgusted with the Foxes and 
required them to build a fort of their own, but 
allowed it to be near theirs. 

In 1734 the Foxes were reduced to a hundred 
warriors. (N. Y. Col. Does., IX., 1055.) Not- 
withstanding this, their numbers were sufficient to 
seriously trouble the French, and Beauharnois, in 
1741, wrote: "The court has written, since several 
years, that it has nothing so much at heart as the 
destruction of that Indian nation which cannot be 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 305 

prevailed upon by presents and the good treatment 
of the French to live in peace, notwithstanding all 
of its promises. Besides, it is notorious that the 
Foxes have a secret understanding with the Iroquois 
to secure a retreat among the latter in case they be 
obliged to abandon their village." 

As before, the Foxes were not the only ones to irri- 
tate the French, for we find a report that various mem- 
bers of the Miami tribe and, it is proper to believe, 
the Foxes and Sacs and still others, had entered into 
a conspiracy to make a general attack on the French. 

Thrice in the history of the west was the Hill of 
Maramech sought as a place of refuge. To such an 
extent was it a strategic point that the possible 
necessity of works of defense, which need the hill 
supplied, early led the Miamis to make their village 
near-by. The abundance of fish in the river and of 
game, before the warring tribes had driven the deer 
and buffalo from the neighboring prairies, made 
life easy to those men of the wilderness. 

Although for years petted and cajoled by the 
French, the natives, influenced by the English, 
gradually turned against their erstwhile friends. 
Louisiana and Canada joined where the watershed 
between the valleys of the St. Lawrence and the 
Mississippi drew its sinuous length over the prairies. 

The traders of the Atlantic colonies, shut out at 
the north and south, were late in finding an entrance 
into the regions so abundant in furs. Their efforts 
were futile until an entering wedge, in the form of 
fleets of canoes, floated down the Ohio. Armed 
traders forced their way, sold goods cheaply, and 
won friends among the red men. 



3 o6 LOST MARAMECH 

With the beginning and increase of their trade 
came, and grew to disastrous dimensions, the 
troubles of the French. In 1747 Sieur de Langueil, 
in command at Detroit, succeeded in calming the 
Sacs, Foxes, Pottawatomies, and Miamis. They 
promised fidelity to the French father. The com- 
mandant took little stock in their avowal of friend- 
ship, however, as each tribe had recently killed 
Frenchmen. By 1748 the English had reached the 
Illinois regions in considerable force. The Illinois 
tribe, still true to the French, only a few years 
before could have successfully resisted the English; 
but now they were languishing and also lacked the 
essentials to a long campaign. The French clearly 
saw that the loss of the Mississippi river and the 
trade of Canada seemed inevitable. 

A military report of 1748 reads: 

"Of all of the Indians who are going home [from 
the council] there are many faithful ones who are 
most anxious to go back to their country to labor, 
as was seen here, to reestablish peace. They belong 
to the river St. Joseph, and are principally Potta- 
watomies, who are all allied with the Miamis, Sacs, 
Foxes, and Folle Avoine. Their first harangue was 
delivered with energy to convince us of their fidelity 
and attachment to the French, whom they would 
rather die with than ever abandon. . . . The Otta- 
was have killed some [Frenchmen]; the Foxes of 
The Bay, the Sioux and the Sacs, in a word, all the 
nations, so to speak, have struck whenever an oppor- 
tunity presented; we dissimulate, as we are unable 
to do anything else; their bad excuses are received 
as sincere and ours refuse to do the like. . . . Three 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 307 

strange Indians from Fond du Lac came at the 
end of July to the Illinois country, with a message 
from the English, in the name of the Iroquois, 
Hurons, Abenaquis, Pouz [Pottawatomies], Ottawas, 
and all the Wabash tribes, inviting the Illinois to 
abandon the French, to withdraw and go to the 
Cahokias, and they would come and cut them [the 
French] off, after which the English would come to 
the Illinois and supply their necessities abundantly. 
. . . Mr. de Berthet has been informed by a Huron 
returning from the Chicachas war, who had spent 
the winter at Scioto with the Shawnees, of the 
league formed by the latter to destroy the upper 
country posts; this Huron assured him that the 
Iroquois of the great village, as well as all the 
other nations, had accepted the tomahawk against 
the French and had all united to seize the French 
posts, beginning with the Illinois country. . . . 
Mr. de Berthet, the commandant at the Illinois, 
writes us, in the months of November and Decem- 
ber, about the general conspiracy of the Indians 
against the French, which was instigated by the 
English, who always employ the Five Nations [the 
Iroquois] to convey their sinister belts; the Illinois 
narrowly escaped being seduced. . . . He [Vau- 
dreuil] is, however, not free from uneasiness in 
regard to the projects of the English. He has 
learned that they have succeeded in causing a revolt 
among the Miamis, at present settled on Rock river 
(marked with a cross on the map) ;* the Weas, a 

* Until this map is found I shall continue to believe that the 
river referred to is the one known to the French as River of 



3 o8 LOST MARAMECH 

Miami tribe; the Mascoutins, settled in the same 
quarter, and the Piankeshaws on the Wabash." 

Mr. de Longueil wrote, in 1752, as follows: 

"Mr. de St. Ange, commandant of the post of 
Vincennes, writes to Mr. Desligneris to use all 
means to protect himself from the storm which is 
ready to burst on the French; that he is busy secur- 
ing himself against the fury of our enemies. . . . 
The Piankeshaws, who are at war with the Shawnees, 
. . . have declared entirely against us. They 
killed at Christmas five Frenchmen at the Vermil- 
lion [river]." 

In a letter from Longueil, dated April 21, 1752 
(N. Y. Col. Docs., X., 245), we read: "A squaw, the 
widow of a Frenchman who had been killed at the 
Vermillion, has reported to Mr. Desligneris that 
the Pianguichias [Piankeshaws], the Illinois, and 
the Osages were to assemble at the prairies of 

* the place where Messrs. De Villiers and De 

Noyelles attacked the Foxes about twenty years 
ago, and when they had built a fort to secure their 
families, they were to make a general attack on the 
French." (These extracts are taken from A^. Y. 
Col. Docs.,Vo\. X.) 

Had the contemplated war upon the French been 
undertaken and had it met with failure, innocent 

the Rock (Riviere du Rocher), now the Fox river of Illinois, 
in whose valley rises Maramech Hill, and that our present Rock 
river is not the one referred to. 

* After prairies is a blank in the document, a word having 
been undecipherable in the original, and I believe that Mara- 
mech may be read in, because there is where the Foxes were 
defeated, and from there radiate many (five) prairies. 




Now the hill's gentle slope is shocked only 
by the battles of the elements. 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 309 

blood of women and children might again have 
reddened the sod of Maramech Hill, which saw, 
however, only the scowls upon the brows of the 
angered natives, for the clouds of war passed away. 

Over one hundred and fifty years have since 
dropped the blossoms and ripened the nuts on Mara- 
mech Hill, yet haunted, mayhap, by the ghosts of 
the murdered Foxes, but its sod has received no new 
scars. 

At Fort Duquesne, in 1755, a few Foxes joined 
the French in that memorable battle which resulted 
in the crushing defeat and death of General Brad- 
dock; and some attacked the French upon Lake 
George in 1757. 



CHAPTER XIX 

In 1760 the Foxes joined the Sioux against the 
Ojibways, and we are told by Schoolcraft (Part II., 
149) that Waub-o-jeeg collected a party of three 
hundred warriors and floated down the St. Croix 
river, at their head, into the country of their ene- 
mies. 

At the mouth of Snake river they were to meet a 
party collected from Mille-Lac and Sand lake to 
join them on their excursion. Not finding the party 
as expected, and confident in his numbers, Waub-o- 
jeeg pursued his course down stream, leaving marks, 
however, by which the other party would be guided. 

Arriving early in the morning at the head of the 
portage that led around the falls of St. Croix, the 
men had already lifted their light canoes on their 
heads to carry across the portage when the scouts 
came in with news that a large party of Sioux and 
Foxes were landing at the foot of the portage. 
The Ojibways put on their war paint and ornaments, 
and in the middle of the portage they met their 
enemies, who were on the same errand as they. 
The combined Sioux and Fox warriors were much 
more numerous than the Ojibways; so much so that 
it is said that the Foxes, confident in their numbers, 
requested the Sioux to stand by and see how easily 
they could rout the Ojibways. The Sioux, there- 
fore, stood or sat on the rocks at a distance, quietly 
smoking their pipes. 

311 



312 LOST MARAMECH 

The fight is said to have been fierce and hardly 
contested. About noon the Foxes commenced to 
give ground, having lost some of their leading men. 
At last they turned and fled, the Ojibways after 
them. They would probably have been killed to a 
man and driven into the water had not, at this 
moment, the Sioux, eager and fresh for fight, raised 
their war-whoop and rushed to the rescue of their 
defeated allies. 

The Ojibways resisted their new enemies man- 
fully, but they, in turn, showed their backs in flight. 
But few would have escaped to tell the sad tale of 
their defeat had not, at this juncture, the party from 
Sandy lake, who were to have met them at Snake 
river, arrived at the head of the portage; seeing 
their friends driven over the rocks into the water 
they jumped out of their canoes, and the sixty war- 
riors, fresh for the contest, withstood the onset of 
the Sioux and Foxes until their friends rallied again 
to the fight. 

The allied Sioux and Foxes being out of ammuni- 
tion, are said to have again fled, and their slaughter 
is stated to have been great. Many were driven 
over the steep rocks into the boiling rapids below, 
and every crevice in the rocks contained a dead or 
wounded enemy. 

From this time the Foxes retired south, and gave 
up the contest with their victorious enemies. 

Captain Carver tells us, in his Travels, that near 
the site of Prairie du Chien he observed the ruins of 
a large town in a pleasing situation. He was in- 
formed this was the site of the ancient Fox village. 

"On inquiring of the neighboring Indians why it 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 



313 



was deserted, I was informed that about thirty years 
ago the Great Spirit appeared on the top of a pyra- 
mid of rocks, which lay a little distance to the west, 
and warned them to quit their habitations, for the 
land on which they lived belonged to Him and He 
had occasion for it. As a proof to them that He 
who gave them their orders was really the Great 
Spirit, He told them the grass should immediate- 
ly spring on these very rocks from whence He 
addressed them, which they knew to be barren. 
The Indians obeyed, and soon after discovered that 
the change had taken place. They showed me the 
spot, but the growth of grass appeared no way 
supernatural. I considered this to have been a 
piece of strategy of the French or Spaniards to 
answer some selfish view. . . . 

"Soon after their removal they built a town on the 
banks of the Mississippi river, near the mouth of the 
Wisconsin, at a place called by the French 'La 
Prairie les Chien,' which signifies 'the dog plain.' 
It is a large town and contains about three hundred 
families. The houses are well built, after the Indian 
manner, and are pleasantly situated on very rich 
soil, from which they raise every necessary of life in 
great abundance. This town is the great mart 
where all of the western tribes, and those who 
inhabit the remote branches of the Mississippi, annu- 
ally assemble about the end of May, bringing with 
them their furs to dispose of to the traders." 

The dates above given are questioned by some. 
The fact that they numbered about fifteen hundred 
people shows that the Foxes could probably muster 
two or three hundred warriors. 



3 i4 LOST MARAMECH 

In 1763 they arc given in the report as numbering 
about three hundred and twenty warriors. 

It is probable that never a year passed but that 
some branch of the Fox tribe was embroiled against 
the whites or neighboring tribes. 

The Foxes increased in numbers rapidly, as is 
shown by an account given in Drake's Life of Black 
Hawk, page 45, from which I quote: 

"The Reynards reside in three villages; the first 
on the west side of the Mississippi, six miles above 
the rapids of the river de Roche [Rock river]; the 
second about twelve miles in the rear of the lead 
mines, and the third on Turkey river, half a league 
from its source. They are engaged in the same 
wars, and have the same alliance as the Sauks, with 
whom they must be considered as indissoluble in 
war and peace. They hunt on both sides of the 
Mississippi, from the river Iowa (below the Prairie 
des Chiens) to a river of that name above said vil- 
lage. They raise a great quantity of corn, beans, 
and melons, the former of these articles in such 
quantities as to sell many hundred bushels per 
annum." 

In 1805, according to Lieutenant Pike, the total 
number of people in the Sauk nation was two thou- 
sand eight hundred and fifty, of whom fourteen hun- 
dred were children, seven hundred and fifty women, 
and seven hundred warriors. They resided in a vil- 
lage and had about seven hundred stand of arms. 
Their trade was principally in deerskins, with some 
bear and a few otter, beaver, and raccoon skins. 
The total number of the Foxes was one thousand 
seven hundred and fifty, of whom eight hundred and 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 



315 



fifty were children, five hundred women, and four 
hundred warriors, with about four hundred stand of 
arms; their village and their trade being the same as 
those of the Sacs. 

Some further items of information about these 
tribes may be gleaned from the statistics furnished 
by Lewis and Clark's expedition. It is there stated 
that the Saukee, or O-sau-kee (Sacs), spoke a primi- 
tive language, dwelt principally in two villages, had 
about five hundred warriors and two thousand souls 
in all in the tribe, and were at war with the Osages, 
Chippewas, and Sioux. The Foxes (or Ot-tar-gar-me, 
in the Saukee language) then numbered not more 
than twelve hundred souls and about three hundred 
warriors. "These nations" [the Sacs and Foxes], 
says Mr. Lewis, "are so perfectly consolidated that 
they may in fact be considered as one nation. They 
are extremely friendly to the whites and seldom injure 
their traders; but they are the most implacable ene- 
mies to the Indian nations with whom they are at 
war; to them is justly attributed the almost entire 
destruction of the Missouries, the Illinois, the Caho- 
kias, Kaskaskias, and Peorias." 

In 1825 the secretary of war estimated the entire 
number of Sacs and Foxes at four thousand six hun- 
dred souls, and in 1826 the warriors were supposed 
to number between twelve and fourteen hundred. 
Supposing these estimates to approximate the truth, 
it appears that during the twenty years between 
1805 and 1825, these tribes had increased very con- 
siderably in numbers. 

The traders generally, and those who had most 
intercourse with the Sacs and Foxes, spoke of them 



J 



16 LOST MARAMECH 



as honest in their dealings, and felt safe among 
them, seldom locking their doors by day or night, 
and allowing them free ingress to their stores and 
houses. Their reputation for courage, it appears, 
does not stand quite so fair. Lieutenant Pike 
speaks of them as being more dreaded by their sav- 
age brethren for "their deeds and inclinations for 
stratagem than for their open courage." Major 
Thomas Forsythe, late United States agent among 
the Sacs and Foxes, calls them a dastardly and 
cowardly set of Indians. The correctness of these 
charges may be questioned. Mr. Schoolcraft, in 
speaking of the Foxes, says: "The history of their 
migrations and wars shows them to have been a 
restless and spirited people, erratic in their disposi- 
tions, having a great contempt for agriculture and a 
predominant passion for war." He adds: "They 
still retain their ancient character and are constantly 
embroiled in wars and disputes with their neigh- 
bors, the results of which show that they have more 
courage in battle than wisdom in council." 

In a report of the war department to the Presi- 
dent, made by the Secretary, Mr. Cass, in 1832, the 
Sacs and Foxes are spoken of as being distinguished 
for their "daring spirit of adventure and for their 
natural courage." 

In 181 1, there being a strong probability of a war 
with Great Britain, a deputation of the Sacs and 
Foxes visited Washington City to see the Presi- 
dent, by whom they were told that, in the event of 
a war taking place with England, their great father 
did not wish them to interfere on either side, but to 
remain neutral. He did not want their assistance, 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 



317 



but desired them to hunt and support their families 
and live in peace. Immediately after the war of 
1812 began, the Sacs and Foxes, with whom, as with 
Indians generally, war is the great business of life, 
felt that they ought, as a matter of course, to take 
sides with one party or the other, and went to St. 
Louis to offer their services to the United States 
agent to fight against the British; but the offer was 
declined on the ground that the government of the 
United States had resolved not to employ the 
Indians in that capacity. The machinations of the 
British, however, were successfully continued. The 
Sacs and Foxes divided upon the question of 
taking up arms against the United States. A part of 
them claimed the protection of the American gov- 
ernment, and received it; a part joined the British 
standard, Black Hawk among the number, and 
fought against the Americans until the peace of 
1815. The number of warriors who joined the Brit- 
ish is supposed to have been about two hundred, and 
they have ever since been known as the "British 
Band," at the head of which was General Black 
Hawk. 



CHAPTER XX 

The main reason given by the early French 
traders, be it remembered, for desiring to destroy 
the Foxes, was that the Foxes, whose home for so 
many years was along the Wisconsin river, interfered 
with the French traders, requiring them to pay toll 
for the right to pass through their country; but we 
learn that the French military officers, after the 
river had come into their possession, probably did 
precisely the same thing. 

In 1827, when the Hon. Henry S. Beaty and Judge 
Doty were passing up the Wisconsin river, they 
were halted by a sentinel who was stationed upon 
the wharf at a trading post and ordered ashore. The 
command was at first disregarded and the oarsmen 
were instructed to go on. They became alarmed, 
however, when the sentinel made ready with his 
musket and threatened to fire if the boat did not 
immediately come ashore. The boat approached 
and they were met at the wharf by the officer of the 
day, of whom they inquired when war had been 
declared. He sheepishly replied that it was a 
standing order of the post that no boat or vessel 
should be permitted to pass without reporting. 
There were general complaints that the officers 
expected, and usually received, a reward for permit- 
ting traders to pass. 

"Upon the 19th of August, 1825, William Clark 
319 



320 



LOST MARAMECH 



and Lewis Cass, commissioners on behalf of the 
United States, concluded a treaty at Prairie du 
Chien, in the territory of Michigan, with the chiefs 
and warriors of the Sioux, Winnebagoes, Menomi- 
nees, Chippewas, Ottawas, Pottawatomies, Sacs, 
Foxes, and Ioways. The objects of this treaty were 
the restoration of peace among the Indian tribes, 
several of whom had been for some time waging war 
against each other, the settlement of boundary 
lines between these tribes respectively, and between 
them and the United States. The commissioners 
succeeded in effecting a peace between the Sioux 
and Chippeways, and between the Sacs, Foxes, and 
Ioways on the one part, and the Sioux on the other; 
and also in adjusting the boundary lines of the ter- 
ritory of each tribe to the satisfaction of all parties. 
Under this treaty nothing was asked by the United 
States nor was anything granted to them; the char- 
acter in which the government presented itself 
being simply that of a pacificator. 

"The concourse of Indians assembled at this 
council was very great. About three thousand 
came to the council ground, clothed in their war- 
dresses, and armed with bows, war-clubs, and toma- 
hawks. The Sacs and Foxes were the last to arrive, 
but were very imposing and warlike in their appear- 
ance when they reached the ground. They ascended 
the Mississippi to Prairie du Chien in a fleet of 
canoes, lashed together. They passed and repassed 
the town in a connected squadron, standing erect in 
their canoes, in full dress, singing their war songs. 
Upon landing, tiny drew up in martial order, as if 
in warlike defiance of their bitter enemies, the 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 321 

Sioux, who were encamped near the shore, and who, 
in turn, shot back the fierce looks of hostility upon 
their ancient foe. An eye-witness describes this 
scene as one unique and singularly magnificent. 
The council was held under a spacious booth of 
green boughs, and lasted for several days. Keokuk 
was present on this occasion, as the head chief of 
the Sacs, and took an active part in the council; his 
course being marked by that moderation and sound 
policy for which he is eminently distinguished." 
(Drake's Life of Black Hazak, p. 67.) 

"The Sauks and Foxes* have a historical legend 
of a severe battle having been fought opposite the 
mouth of the Iowa river, about fifty or sixty miles 
above the mouth of the Rock river. The Sauks and 
Foxes descended the Mississippi in canoes, and, 
landing at the place above described, started east, 
toward the enemy; they had not gone far before 
they were attacked by a party of the Mascoutins. 
The battle continued nearly all day; the Sauks and 
Foxes, for want of ammunition, finally gave way 
and fled to their canoes; the Mascoutins pursued 
them and fought desperately, and left but few of 
the Sauks and Foxes to carry home the story of their 
defeat. Some forty or fifty years ago the Sauks and 
Foxes attacked a small village of Peorias, about 
a mile below St. Louis and were there defeated. 
At a place on the Illinois river called Little Rock, 
there were formerly killed by the Chippeways and 
Ottawas a number of men, women, and children of 

* The total number of Foxes given in 1 750 by Lieutenant 
Pike was eight hundred and fifty children, five hundred 
women, and four hundred warriors, the latter well armed. 



322 LOST MARAMECH 

the Minneway [Illinois] nation. In 1800 the Kicka- 
poos made a great slaughter of the Kaskaskia 
[Illinois] Indians." (Drake's Life of Black Hawk, 
p. 17.) 

Going back to Revolutionary times: 

When the Foxes learned that war had been de- 
clared between Great Britain and its colony, all felt 
that they must take a hand; but whether to unite 
with the English or with the rebels, using the Eng- 
lish term that soon became familiar to them, was 
long debated, and they became divided. During 
the many years of the struggle an opportunity was 
given to any one who might choose to serve Great 
Britain or the colonies struggling to free themselves 
from oppression. The brandy trade, more than any 
other, seems to have influenced the Foxes — all the 
Indians believed that the white settlers wished to 
destroy the tribe both by drink and by war. Some 
Indians were killed by white men and an officer 
thought to pacify the members of the tribe by a 
present of whisky. A Fox chief called Le Chat 
(the cat) became very much offended and stove in a 
barrel of whisky, saying that that present "did not 
pay for the bodies of the two dead men whom the 
whites had killed." 

The British officers succeeded in recruiting twenty 
Foxes and twenty Sacs for service in the Revolu- 
tionary war against the Americans. The warriors 
of these and neighboring tribes were employed 
along the Mississippi river, and at times did good 
service against the Americans in the southern por- 
tions of Illinois, but at times vacillated. They were 
often charged with having "listened to the rebels." 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 



323 



Even the Ottawas of the upper Mississippi and 
Lake Superior were urged, under the leadership of 
a Chippewa chief, to unite with the Sioux, Sacs, 
and Foxes against the rebels on the Illinois and near 
that quarter, the operations to be directed against 
bodies of armed men and forts or strongholds by- 
siege, as the garrisons of those places were de- 
pendent on the inhabitants, who were weary of their 
demands, for their daily bread. The warriors 
recruited among those tribes were ordered to ren- 
dezvous at the mouth of the Wisconsin river, and 
for a time excursions were made wherever it was 
believed that effective blows could be struck. A 
portion of them were sent to watch the lead mines 
with a view to preventing the rebels from obtaining 
lead. One of the successful excursions was made 
against the Americans at Cahokia, in which several 
hundred cattle were destroyed and forty-three 
scalps, thirty-four prisoners, black and white, were 
taken, and about seventy persons killed; but the 
Indians were beaten off, owing to the treachery of 
some of the Sacs and Foxes and the interpreter, it 
was said. 

The Foxes were scolded and praised, in turn, by 
the English, whether censured or praised depending 
upon the intentions they at that moment expressed. 
An English officer at Mackinaw, in 1780, wrote: 
"The Sacs and Foxes have taken up the hatchets 
against us"; and in 1781 Sinclair wrote to the Gov- 
ernor: "The Sacs and Foxes from the banks of the 
Mississippi, with the Menominee Indians, have 
arrived, and more are expected daily from other 
tribes bordering on the Illinois country who have 



324 LOST MARAMECH 

sent to inform me that they do not mean any longer 
to listen to the tales imposed upon them by the 
enemy" (the British). It thus seems that the Eng- 
lish were no more successful in winning the con- 
stancy of the Foxes than the French had been. 



CHAPTER XXI 

LEAD MINES 

The Foxes were among those first to learn from 
the French the value of the mineral found along the 
upper Mississippi river and its tributaries. While it 
is probable that earlier travelers learned of the 
existence of the lead mines, Perrot must be credited 
with making them known. 

We read in La Potherie (II., 251): "A Mascoutin 
chief presented him [Perrot] with a fragment of ore 
that he had found on the banks of a stream which 
discharges into the Mississippi." And again: "The 
great chief of the Miamis, knowing that Perrot was 
there [had arrived], sent to him a war-chief and ten 
young warriors, to say to him that his [the chief's] 
village was four leagues below and that he much 
wished to join him [Perrot] at his fire [camping- 
place]. The chief came, two days after, accom- 
panied by twenty men and their wives, and pre- 
sented him with a fragment taken from a lead mine. 
Perrot pretended not to know the utility of the 
mineral, even reproaching the chief for making such 
a present, by which he intended to cover the two 
dead Frenchmen that the Mascoutins had assassi- 
nated, with the three Miamis who had escaped from 
the Iroquois." (La Potherie, II., 260.) 

The primitive manner of mining and smelting the 
ores by the Indians is described in Smith's History 
of Wisconsin (III., 353): 

"The Indians had their lead diggings in many 
325 



3 



26 LOST MARAMECH 



parts of the country, now properly called the lead- 
bearing region; these diggings were of course shal- 
low, they not possessing either the necessary tools, 
the ability, or the industry of sinking shafts of any 
depth. Their mode of smelting was thus: A hole, 
or cavity, was dug in the face of a piece of sloping 
ground, about two feet in depth, and as much in 
width at the top; this hole was made in the shape 
of a mill-hopper, and lined, or faced, with flat 
stones. At the bottom, or point of the hopper, 
which was about eight or nine inches square, other 
narrow stones were laid across, grate-wise; a chan- 
nel, or eye, was dug from the sloping side of the 
ground, inwards, to the bottom of the hopper; this 
channel was about a foot in width and in height, 
and was filled with dry wood and brush. The hop- 
per being filled with the mineral and the wood 
ignited, in a few minutes the molten lead fell 
through the stones, at the bottom of the hopper, 
and thence was discharged through the eye over 
the earth. It was certainly a simple but rough and 
improvident way of gathering the melted lead; but 
in the great abundance of mineral, and ease of its 
procuration, it sufficed for the wants of the Indians. 
At many of these primitive smelting places the 
white settlers afterward extracted a profitable har- 
vest of rich lead from the slag and refuse of the 
Indian laborers' smelting; but even with the whites, 
in after time, the old ash-and-log furnace was little 
better than the Indian mode of smelting, in regard 
to economy." 

The Indians guarded the mines, fearing that the 
white men would take possession. They were espe- 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 327 

dally particular that no American should learn their 
location. 

In 1816 Col. John Shaw, a boatman, was a com- 
mon carrier, taking merchandise from St. Louis to 
the trading posts on the upper Mississippi. Hav- 
ing discharged his load at Prairie du Chien, he 
descended to Fever river to load with lead for St. 
Louis that had been received in payment for goods, 
by the merchants of that city. The traders, respect- 
ing the wishes of the Indians, requested Colonel 
Shaw to wait at the mouth of Fever river until the 
lead could be delivered to him. This the Colonel 
refused to do, as he could not wait so long, and 
asked permission to go up the river for the lead. 
The Indians declined, replying that "the Americans 
must not see their lead mines," as they were partic- 
ularly suspicious of Americans ; but they did not feel 
the same toward the Frenchmen, with whom they 
had been so long associated. As the Colonel spoke 
French as fluently as he did English, the traders 
told the Indians that he was a Frenchman as well 
as the boatmen, the last being true. A little persua- 
sion opened the way to the smelting works. He 
found no town, but many camps and about twenty 
furnaces. The molten lead was run into "flats," of 
about seventy pounds each, being formed by smelt- 
ing the mineral in a small walled hole in which the 
fuel and mineral were mingled and the liquid lead 
run out, in front, into a hole scooped in the earth so 
that a bowl-shaped mass of lead was formed. The 
squaws dug the mineral and carried it in sacks, on 
their heads, to the furnaces. {Wisconsin Historical 
Collections, II., 226.) 



o 



28 LOST MARAMECH 



By the methods of mining among the Foxes, 
Sacs, and Pottawatomies, who owned the mineral 
lands, much mineral was left in the old diggings 
among the debris, which made reworking by the 
whites quite profitable. 

The Hon. E. B. Washburn, referring to the lead 
mines, tells us that the discovery of certain new 
mines was regarded as a great secret by the Indians, 
and one not to be divulged without offending the 
Great Spirit. Their desire for profit, however, was 
so great that they sought to reveal the secret in a 
way that, they believed, could not be considered by 
the Great Spirit as a violation of His commands. 
So they told a prospector, with whom they had 
some dealing, that if he would go to the top of a 
hill with them they would shoot an arrow in the 
direction of their newly-discovered mines. [Wis- 
consin Historical Collections, X. , 244.) They soon 
drove him off, however; but other white men, 
through the agency of a squaw, acquired rights to 
mine there, yet their primitive methods were little 
improvement over those of the simple people who, 
as many times before, had permitted the invaders 
to gain an advantage over them, which advantage 
meant, in the end, utter destruction. 

During the Revolutionary war some of the west- 
ern tribes had been won over to the British, but not 
so were the French and Indians in the country of 
the Illinois. The Foxes and Sacs, among others, 
received orders from the British commander to pro- 
ceed to the lead mines and prevent the people of 
the Illinois region from availing themselves of the 
had ore. The Illinois were informed that no 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 



329 



quarter would be given them if they ventured 
near. 

That mining became an important industry is 
shown by facts told in Vol. II., p. 252, of the Wis- 
consin Historical Collections^ where a letter to the 
secretary of war, written in 181 1, states that "the 
Sacs, Foxes, and Iowas can be as well supplied at 
the latter place [Prairie du Chien] as at the former 
[St. Louis]; particularly as they have mostly aban- 
doned the chase except to furnish themselves with 
meat, and turned their attention to the manufacture 
of lead, which they procure from a mine about sixty 
miles below Prairie du Chien. During the last 
season they manufactured four hundred thousand 
pounds of that article, which they exchanged for 
goods." 

This prosperity did not last long, for the avari- 
ciousness of the whites first led to encroachments, 
then to murders, and soon to expulsion by the 
so-called treaty made at Prairie du Chien. 

In the early part of the year 1828, the President of 
the United States appointed Governor Cass and Col. 
Pierre Menard to treat with certain tribes of Indians 
for the cession of what is called the "mineral 
region" lying on the Mississippi, south of the Wis- 
consin. The commissioners arrived at Green Bay 
late in the summer of that year, and on the 25th of 
August made a temporary agreement with the 
Indians, by which the whites were allowed to occupy 
the country where the lead mines were worked; and 
in the ensuing year a treaty was to be made with the 
Indians for the purchase of the mineral country. In 
the meantime, no white man was to cross a certain 



330 



LOST MARAMECH 



line, specified in said agreement, to dig for ore; and 
finally the Indians were paid twenty thousand dol- 
lars in goods for the trespasses already committed 
on their lands by the white miners. This agreement 
was ratified by the President and Senate of the 
United States on January 7, 1829. Soon after Presi- 
dent Jackson came into office, in 1829, he appointed 
General McNeil of the army to fill the place of 
Governor Cass in the said commission, which was to 
meet at St. Louis, and under the agreement above 
mentioned to proceed to the mineral region to effect 
its purchase by treaty. In consequence of some dis- 
agreement in opinion between these two commis- 
sioners, the President subsequently appointed 
another, Caleb Atwater, Esq., of Ohio. They 
reached Prairie du Chien about the middle of July, 
where they met deputies on the part of the Winne- 
bagoes, Chippeways, Ottawas, Pottawatomies, 
Sioux, Sacs, Foxes, and Menominees; and on the 
first of August a treaty was concluded for about 
eight million acres, extending from the upper end 
of Rock island to the mouth of the Wisconsin, from 
latitude 41 15' to latitude 43 15' on the Missis- 
sippi. Following the meanderings of the river the 
tract was about two hundred and forty miles from 
south to north. It extended along the Wisconsin 
and Fox rivers from west to east so as to give a pas- 
sage across the country from the Mississippi to Lake 
Michigan. 



CHAPTER XXII 

As has been said, traffic was carried on between 
tribes when peace permitted. The great trails were 
worn deep, not only by war parties, but often by 
braves from the various tribes who traversed the coun- 
try with the staple products of their own sections. 
The pipestone of Minnesota, both the crude article 
and the artistically manufactured product, was taken 
to the east and south. The flints from the Mountain 
Limestone beds of Tennessee found their way north- 
ward in exchange for trinkets and for the copper of 
the north in both its crude and its manufactured state. 
The roughed-out flints, so abundantly produced in 
Ohio, were taken westward and served to make the 
spear-heads and knives so common throughout the 
Mississippi valley, in regions where flint of the kind 
is not plentiful. 

The first great trail of traffic and war known in the 
region that my story most concerns, reached across 
the great prairies from the mouth of the Rock river 
to Chicago. Others joined it from the north and 
south, and an important trail followed the sinuous 
bluffs of Rock river. In the map of 1680 (see page 
27) the course of the great east-and-west route is 
shown, and identified by the words Chemin du 
Retour. The author of the map I refer to is not 
known, but the information from which it was drawn 
was gathered, as previously stated, from early 
traders and from the Indians who knew it well. For 

331 



332 



LOST MARAMECH 



generations their ancestors had traveled it. Henne- 
pin did not pass over the trail, but his map of 1697 
is the first to lay down the route to any extent 
definitely. (See p. 40.) De Lisle's map of 1703 
(see page 41) shows the same trail in dotted lines. 
It followed the southern bank of Rock river to a 
point near the present city of Dixon, Illinois; then 
struck southeastwardly; thence down the Kishwau- 
kee branch to a point near the "Great Village of 
Maramech," just south of the modern little city of 
Piano, in Kendall county, and from thence it passed 
to Chicago. A branch, however, struck directly 
east from Maramech, and, passing the head of Lake 
Michigan, reached Detroit. Over this trail, after 
the French had taken possession of the region, 
deputies from the tribes passed to the site of French 
power in Canada. It was over this that the British 
band of Foxes, during the first third of the nine- 
teenth century, passed to and from Maiden, Canada, 
to receive annuities from the British general there 
in command; and later over this trail the home- 
seekers came to the great grove-studded prairies, 
which they accepted as the fulfillment of their 
hopes. For two hundred years, at least, this route, 
later called the Sac and Fox trail, was well known; 
but with the coming of the plow its effacement 
began, and now it is only discernible by a few 
scars. 

One of the last to avail himself of the great Sac 
and Fox trail and of its Kishwaukee branch, which 
latter formed a feeder, as it were, was John Kinzie, 
in the early part of the year 1831. An account of 
the journey is found in "Wau-Bun," a delightful 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 



333 



story from the pen of Mrs. Kinzie, a brave but some- 
what frail and helpless member of the party. The 
time of her experiences was near the dawn of the 
present occupation, and well did she name her book 
"Wau-Bun," a native word meaning "the dawn." 

Early in March they left Fort Winnebago, in 
Wisconsin, on their way to Chicago. The swollen 
streams made it best to strike southwest, so as to 
cross Rock river at Ogle's Ferry. They stopped 
the first night at Kellogg's Grove, and next day 
reached the river where, the larger boat having been 
carried away, they were ferried across in a canoe. 
Mr. Kellogg joined them, as he had business to 
transact at Chicago; and, so sure was he that the 
place of destination would be reached quickly that 
he endeavored to impress upon them that a supply 
of provisions for two days would be sufficient. A 
hearty breakfast at the house of Mr. Dixon was 
ample for the time being. Mr. Dixon assured them 
that there would be no difficulty if they would keep 
a little to the north and strike the great Sac Trail. 
Mrs. Kinzie's memory was evidently at fault when 
mentioning the old Sac Trail, for that trail, when 
known by that name, passed from the great Sac vil- 
lage, Saukenong, directly east, and did not pass so 
far northward as the present city of Dixon. 

Mr. Dixon, in giving his directions, probably said 
that the Kishwaukee Trail, a branch of the Sac 
Trail, would be reached by going a little distance to 
the north. He assured them that if they did not go 
far enough to the north they would not escape the 
Winnebago Swamp; and, once in that, they would 
have difficulty in getting out again. He assured 



-1 -I I 



LOST MARAMECH 



them that the distance to Chicago was not great; 
that two young men had reached Dixon from Chi- 
cago on the evening of the second day of travel, and 
that, even with a lady in their party, they could 
reach Chicago in less time than that. He impressed 
upon them that they must be sure to get the great 
trail that the Sacs had made in going from the Mis- 
sissippi river to Canada. 

They took their leave in high spirits, and traveled 
for a few miles along the banks of the Rock river 
in a somewhat easterly direction. They had been 
told that the road would cross the Sac Trail six 
miles distant. Mrs. Kinzie says that her husband 
feared the guide, Plante, was leading them too far 
to the north, for the trail soon brought them to the 
great bend of the river, now known as Grand 
Detour. This fact warranted Mr. Kinzie in ignoring 
the guide and in taking his course directly east. 
They soon came to the Winnebago Swamp, which 
they had difficulty in crossing. 

On the 15th of March they awoke early and, feel- 
ing that they were lost, again began the search for 
the great trail. After traveling many miles, they 
came upon an Indian trail, deeply worn, running at 
right angles with the course they were pursuing. 
This I find, from a careful study of early maps, was 
the Kishwaukee Trail. The sky was overcast, but 
the clouds were so thin that the position of the 
sun could give them direction. The guide was 
quite sure that the new trail should be followed 
northward; but Mr. Kinzie had lost confidence 
in Plante and Kellogg, and after traveling a few 
miles he turned abruptly saying to them that 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 335 

they might go north if they pleased, but he would 
turn to the south and take the trail in that direc- 
tion. 

They followed the trail for a great distance, con- 
trary to the advice of the guide and Mr. Kellogg, 
who frequently assured Mr. Kinzie that he was 
going wrong. At last, turning a point of woods, 
they came upon an Indian village. This, no doubt, 
was the village of Shabbona, whose people were yet 
away on their winter's hunt. I judge that it was the 
village of Shabbona from the fact that the Kish- 
waukee Trail passed the home of that great chief, 
who, but a year later, showed himself to be a warm 
friend of the whites. Provisions had become short, 
and the travelers were much disappointed to find the 
village vacant. They mounted and rode on, the 
snow again falling, and after traveling some distance 
halted for the night. 

After a cold night, their hunger being relieved 
only by a pot of coffee, they were ready for the 
start. The last three crackers were given to Mrs. 
Kinzie for her dinner, and Mr. Kellogg handed her 
a piece of tongue and a slice of fruit cake, which he 
had been "saving for the lady" since the day 
before. The trail was still visible, and they fol- 
lowed it until about nine o'clock, when they reached 
Fox river, on the opposite side of which was Wau- 
bansee's village. They shouted, but no answer 
came for the village was deserted. Mr. Kinzie 
decided to take a cross-trail that passed down the 
bank of the river, hoping to find Indians wintering 
near. They followed the bank of the river, then as 
now bordered by timber. Suddenly Mrs. Kinzie's 



336 LOST MARAMECH 

horse started, and she called to her husband that 
Indians were near, for, as she says, the horse was 
mortally afraid of these people; at the same time a 
little dog ran from under the bushes and began bark- 
ing. Riding into the thicket a little distance they 
found two squaws, crouching behind some bushes, 
trying to conceal themselves. Addressing them in 
the Pottawatomie language, Mr. Kinzie asked them 
what they were doing there, and they replied that 
they were digging Indian potatoes. Their lodge 
was across the river, and by this fact Mr. Kinzie 
gathered that they must have a canoe, and he re- 
quested them to take the party over. What kind of 
a canoe it was we are not told, except that it was 
small. It was probably a dugout, hewn from a tree 
that had stood near by. It was necessary for Mrs. 
Kinzie to lie flat on her back in the canoe while the 
mother kneeling in the stern and the daughter at 
the bow paddled across. They were then at the 
site of ancient Maramech, the old Miami town, and 
this Pottawatomie family was probably the last of 
native blood to shelter itself amidst the great trees 
that border the river and stud the hills near by. 
Sylvan Spring, by what name then known we shall 
not know, bubbled from the washed sands and kissed 
the water-cresses as now; and there the master of 
the family made his winter hunt, and the wife, with 
the ample hospitality known to the native tribes 
only, catered to those who came. 

On being asked the name of the river, the woman 
could only reply, "Sau-man-ong, " the word being a 
general term applied to any large stream. Mr. 
Kinzie became impressed with the fact that the vil- 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 



337 



lage they had passed was Waubansee's, and he esti- 
mated that they were then about fifty miles from 
Chicago, which, by the way, is practically the exact 
distance from Sylvan Spring to our modern great 
city. The squaw assured Mr. Kinzie that Chicago 
was close by, which, as he said, he took to mean 
that it was probably not so far off as Canada. The 
men busied themselves unpacking the horses, in 
order to ford the river. The old woman, returning 
to aid the others in crossing, left the younger one 
with Mrs. Kinzie, who was seated on the trunk of a 
fallen tree amidst the snow. The prospects were 
gloomy, and she could not restrain her tears, because 
of the utter desolation of spirit which disappoint- 
ment had wrought. The little squaw, Mrs. Kinzie 
states, was looking into her face with wonder and 
sympathy, and seemed to be speculating what could 
bring tears to one who rode so fine a horse and was 
so comfortably clothed. Soon the little girl was 
joined by another, and after chattering a while they 
trotted off into the woods. 

The river having been crossed, Mrs. Kinzie fol- 
lowed the squaw to her lodge a little distance in the 
woods. It was nicely arranged. Four sticks of 
wood placed to form a square in the center answered 
the purpose of a hearth, and in this the fire was 
burning, the smoke escaping through an opening in 
the roof. The hut was constructed of neat new 
mats tied _to the poles that formed the framework, 
and on these poles were the dried food and other 
household treasures. Ladles, a small kettle, and 
wooden bowls also hung from the poles, and at the 
center, by an iron chain depending from the frame- 



338 LOST MARAMECH 

work, a kettle was hung. In the kettle food for the 
returning hunter was being prepared. 

Mr. Kinzie joined his wife at the lodge. They 
were forced to disappoint the housewife by telling 
her they had no bread, which, by the way, was 
always much prized and often asked for by the 
Indians. When she learned that Mrs. Kinzie had 
had no breakfast, she filled a bowl from the kettle 
and presented it. It was a soup made of Indian 
potatoes, and, sauced with hunger, it was highly 
relished. The two little girls came, and were much 
astonished when Mrs. Kinzie took her prayer-book 
from her pocket and began to read. As if fearing 
to seem rude, they looked away and quietly ques- 
tioned their mother as to what the strange employ- 
ment could mean. 

While thus engaged, Mrs. Kinzie was startled by 
a sudden "Hoh!" when the mat that hung over the 
entrance was raised and an Indian entered. He was 
the master of the lodge, and had been out to shoot 
ducks. Mrs. Kinzie tells us "he was tall, finely 
formed, with a genial, open countenance, and he 
listened to what his wife, in a quiet tone, related to 
him, while he divested himself of his accouterments 
in the most unembarrassed manner imaginable. 
The narrative continues: "From the Indian he [Mr. 
Kinzie] learned that we were in what was called the 
'Big Woods,' or 'Piche's [Specie's] Grove,' from a 
Frenchman of that name living not far from the 
spot; that the river we had crossed was the Fox 
river, and that he could guide us to Piche's, from 
which the road was perfectly plain, or even to Chi- 
cago, if we preferred; but that we had better remain 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 



339 



encamped for the day, as there was a storm coming 
on; and in the meantime he would go and shoot 
some ducks for our dinner and supper. He was 
accordingly furnished with powder and shot, and set 
off for game without delay." 

The home' comforts found in the cabin were no 
doubt sufficient to Mrs. Kinzie for a time, and she 
amused herself by taking from her pocket a roll of 
red ribbon, and presenting a piece to each of the 
little girls. With it they were delighted, and 
the motherjdivided it and tied a piece to each of the 
little clubs into which the hair was knotted on the 
temples. This pleased them much, and their 
mother joined them in their mirth. 

The storm came, and such a night in Maramech 
was experienced as I myself have often known; and 
I seem to renew the experiences of my boyhood 
when I read Mrs. Kinzie's description of that win- 
ter's night in the woods: 

"The storm was raging without. The trees were 
bending and cracking around us, and the air was 
completely filled with the wild-fowl screaming and 
quacking as they made their way southward before 
the blast. Our tent was among the trees not far 
from the river. My husband took me to the bank 
to look for a moment at what we had escaped. The 
wind was sweeping down from the north in a perfect 
hurricane. The water was filled with masses of 
snow and ice, dancing along upon the torrent, over 
which were hurrying thousands of wild-fowl, ma- 
king the woods resound with their deafening clamor. 

"Had we been one hour later, we could not pos- 
sibly have crossed the stream, and there would have 



340 



LOST MARAMECH 



been nothing for us but to have remained and 
starved in the wilderness. Could we be sufficiently 
grateful to that kind Providence that had brought 
us safely through such dangers? 

"The men had cut down an immense tree, and 
built a fire against it, but the wind shifted so con- 
tinually that every five minutes the tent would 
become completely filled with smoke, so that I was 
driven into the open air for breath. Then I would 
seat myself on one end of the huge log, as near the 
fire as possible, for it was dismally cold; but the 
wind seemed actuated by a kind of caprice, for in 
whatever direction I took my seat, just that way 
came the smoke and hot ashes, puffing in my face 
until I was nearly blinded. Neither veil nor silk 
handkerchief afforded an effectual protection, and I 
was glad when the arrival of our huntsman, with a 
quantity of ducks, gave me an opportunity of 
diverting my thoughts from my own sufferings, by 
aiding the men to pick them and get them ready for 
our meal. 

"We borrowed a kettle from our Indian friends. 
It was not remarkably clean; but we heated a little 
water in it, and prairie-hay'd it out, before consign- 
ing our birds to it, and with a bowl of Indian pota- 
toes, a present from our kind neighbors, we soon 
had an excellent soup. 

"What with the cold, the smoke, and the driving 
ashes and cinders, this was the most uncomfortable 
afternoon I had yet passed, and I was glad when 
night came and I could creep into the tent and 
cover myself up in the blankets, out of the way of 
all three of these evils. 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 



341 



"The storm raged with ten-fold violence during 
the night. We were continually startled by the 
crashing of the falling trees around us, and who 
could tell but that the next would be upon us? 
Spite of our fatigue, we passed an almost sleepless 
night. When we arose in the morning, we were 
made fully alive to the perils by which we had been 
surrounded. At least fifty trees, the giants of the 
forest, lay prostrate within view of the tent. 

"When we had taken our scanty breakfast, and 
were mounted and ready for departure, it was with 
difficulty we could thread our way/so completely 
was it obstructed by the fallen trunks. 

"Our Indian guide had joined us at an early hour, 
and after conducting us carefully out of the wood, 
and pointing out to us numerous bee-trees,* for 
which he said that grove was famous, he set off at a 
long trot, and about nine o'clock brought us to 
Piche's, a log cabin on a rising ground, looking off 
over the broad prairie to the east. We had hoped 
to get some refreshment here, Piche being an old 
acquaintance of some of the party, but, alas! the 
master was from home. We found his cabin occu- 
pied by Indians and travelers — the latter few, the 
former numerous." 

The point of wood now laid down as Piche's 
Grove is but a continuation of the heavy timber 
that lines the southern bank of the Fox river, and is 
less than five miles from the site of the ancient town 
where I have placed the hut of this lone Indian and 

* The honey-bee is not known in the perfectly wild countries 
of North America. It is ever the pioneer of civilization, and 
the Indians call it "the white man's bird." 



342 LOST MARAMECH 

his family. The fact that they started early and 
reached Specie's Grove by nine o'clock shows that 
they were probably as much as five miles west 
therefrom, which would place them at Sylvan 
Spring. Following the Sac Trail for a little dis- 
tance, they reached a cross-trail that, at that time, 
paralleled the eastern bank of the Fox river from 
Ottawa half way to Chicago. 

The "Big Woods" were anywhere along Fox 
river, near Batavia, near Aurora, and, in fact, any- 
where where tall timber was to be found. 




The Chief's Wigwam. Tama Reservation. 



CHAPTER XXIII 

At the Tama reservation, sitting by the fire in the 
middle of the rush-mat-covered lodge of Chief Pu- 
ci-to-nig-wa, with his counsellors and interpreters, I 
found around me much of what we are so often told 
in narratives of travelers through the west more 
than two hundred years ago. The domicile of the 
chief shows no change; it is precisely like those 
described by Alouez, Perrot, and others. Rattles 
consisting of gourds filled with pebbles serve, now 
as then, at the ceremonial dances. Nothing mod- 
ern is seen except an occasional trunk or basket 
around the walls of the cabin, mingled with those 
home-made, of leather, with thongs for locks. 
Mats serve as beds, some raised and some upon the 
floor of well-beaten earth. The blankets are of the 
kind first given in exchange by the early traders. 
At the middle of the cabin a space is left for the 
fire. Over its embers hangs a chain, upon which 
the kettle is suspended. Rush mats, neatly sewn 
and supported upon a bee-hive-like structure of 
poles, serve well to protect from the storms of sum- 
mer and the blasts of winter. A hole at the summit 
permits a large part of the smoke to escape, but 
some remains and tortures the eyes. The wrinkled 
faces of the aged ones show exposure to the sun of 
summer and smoke of winter. The lack of neatness 
indicates no advance in hygienic knowledge — there 
are almost no signs of advancement. The love for 

343 



344 LOST MARAMECH 

ornaments is shown by beads which hang from ears 
and neck, and that are sewn upon the moccasins, 
upon the skirts of the women and upon the belts 
worn by the men. 

About three hundred and fifty of these people yet 
remain. They till the soil for corn as they tilled it 
when first met by the traders. Their foods are 
the same as then. Although mills are near, the 
corn is ground by pounding in a wooden mortar. 
Maple sugar of their own make is their greatest 
luxury. They repel the spirit of progress. Their 
conservatism will be their death. The fate that 
must overtake the native tribes may prove a kindness 
to them; yet how sad, and to us how keen the sting 
of conscience. 

I told those around the fire with me the story of 
the destruction of the several branches of the Fox 
tribe, at Detroit, at the river in Wisconsin that now 
bears their name, and at the fatal hill where a mass- 
ive boulder marks the place of starvation and tor- 
ture. 

The Fox tribe has adopted for its use a writing 
consisting of English script letters, with some modi- 
fications and additions. An example of this script 
is furnished me by a descendant of the tribe, Mr. 
William Jones, educated at Harvard and now con- 
nected with the American Museum of Natural His- 
tory of the City of New York. It is a translation 
into the Fox language of the inscription on the 
stone recently placed on Maramech Hill. As will be 
seen by the interlineations, retranslations into Eng- 
lish, the Fox method of translation differs greatly 
from ours. 



The Inscription on the Boulder Translated into the Fox 

Language and Shown in the Fox Script, With 

Retranslation into English. 

Here this at the stockade 

is the place where they were besieged the 

c£c,c^ 4-c ca. fa x ^te ^<* ye. tZ. cL<. u/c* 

Red- Earths. Three hundred they num- 

fiL . "HnA ^C^< %■< ^ <* ^~o £cx <^~ fa '. 

bered, Red-Earth warriors, 

Us-L usc<_ l*sc\ A . Ma A^c . O -h\+ SXu nt 

their wives and also their 

5 use*- I*/ c^ ± , £ /c\ 4_ . ol u/<c in < Lis a a. . 
children there were 

at the time. These French 

C&' Cc /tt' . '^l U. ^<x . /(o Tec &+ • ?>T-e £° 

and other 

<5 -e. ^i-e >l^ c^/a aV . "frvw *<* %<*ji kucv t 

people thirteen hundred 

h.£ J t cot ?u Jcua G-€ • ^^ ^ ^1 ^ 

they numbered 
when they besieged them the Red-Earths\ 

Aug. 17, 1730 was the time the 

siege began here. then Sept. 8 was 

when they escaped the Ked-Earths when 

they were captured when they were tortured 

when they were slain. 



French trenches were 

vxl. «yi£c fie fU w* tC Kj>s>. ( )<^ 

on the hill whence the cold. 

Ferland tells aoout it, rock, 

in a book, History of Canada 

edU Xi flu Ze K< . ^< <UU U b.Al-Kc<_ 

it is called, two . miles 

lA.x . uv£ ZZZ Lu<. dec Xje ^ . c< fce usi . 

whence the heat it is 

that rock, but partly 

^ dc Luu to. o & UJC % !<**£ n * -***'• 
hauled away it is. Near it is 

Maramech, for such was the name of it 

town. 1684 he told of it Franque- 

lin that town ; map 

in a book 
Note.— Dots separate words. Crosses separate sentences. 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 



345 



Upon the ribbed framework of the lodge of Chief 
Pu-ci-to-nig-wa hung the medicine-bags of the chief 
and those of the adult male members of his family. 
Of smoke-browned leather and old, they seemed 
much like the skin of a mummy. Each, to its pos- 
sessor, was priceless. Each contained the mascot 
of a brave, — an eagle's claw, perhaps, a stone, a 
shell, and what not. The mascot was whatever the 
possessor had dreamed of in youth, when fasting in 
order that he might dream and thus hold commu- 
nion with the Great Spirit; a memento of what he 
first dreamed — that is what he held precious. 

More than this, the medicine-bags contained the 
mementoes of generations, and each thing contained 
was a reminder of some event long almost forgotten. 

When I had read from rusty French volumes, 
printed before his great-grandfather was born, the 
sad stories that their traditions but echo, the chief 
said to his counsellors; "How like the red man's 
medicine-bag! The rusty leather-covered book 
seems to be so full of sacred memories." 

I have since listened to their traditions, mixtures 
of fact, fiction, and fable, of victories and defeats, 
and of their almost total destruction, but gather 
nothing fully corroborative of any one event men- 
tioned in the French records. In my efforts to get 
the story of their last great struggle, I found but one 
which to any extent seems to have any possible 
reference to any part of the affair on Maramech 
Hill. 

"Once upon a time," it runs, "when the Foxes 
were living north of the Wisconsin river, a child 
was born and they named him Wa-pa-sai-ya, the 



346 LOST MARAMECH 

name meaning 'the white buckskin.' He was rest- 
less, as a child, and as a youth quarrelsome. He 
delighted in torturing his comrades, but because of 
his marked abilities was a leader among them. 
When he became a man and people from other 
tribes came to visit his village, he would often say, 
'The dogs will have something to eat to-day.' He 
would tell those who were entertaining the visitors 
to feed them well and later have them brought to 
him. Some he would kill, and would let others go 
home with fingers, nose, and ears cut off. By and 
by his people said, among themselves, that such 
things must stop. It is wrong so to treat our friends 
from other tribes, and, besides, we do not know but 
they will come upon us in retaliation. So some of 
the principal men went to Wa-pa-sai-ya and said to 
him: 'We want you to be our chief,' and he replied: 
'Just one more time will I treat those people that 
same old way.' At the time this was going on there 
were war parties setting out, and he often accom- 
panied them, even though they did not wish him to; 
and when they would again ask him not to go out he 
would reply as before, 'Just one more time; I will go 
out on just one more war raid.'* It soon resulted 
that the neighboring tribes became much angered 
because of the treatment received from the White 
Buckskin. Among the people who suffered most 
were the French soldiers. The Frenchmen came 
and gave arms to the surrounding nations, and by 

* With the Fox tribe the chief must be a man of peace, and 
these people offering the chieftainship did so in order that, by 
the laws of the tribe, he, as chief, would be compelled to cease 
his aggressions. 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 347 

and by the French soldiers came against the Foxes. 
Before the righting began the French held a parley 
with Wa-pa-sai-ya and wanted him to stop all his 
cruelties and agree to several things, such as keep- 
ing peace with other tribes; but he would not con- 
sent to anything. 

"The efforts of the French officers resulted only 
in making him defiant. He bade them come in any 
numbers, but failed to make them fully understand 
the contempt he felt for their soldiers and their 
methods of warfare. To make them know his 
defiant attitude which words, through the inter- 
preter, had failed to express, he stuck a number of 
sticks in the ground, in a row, to represent the num- 
ber of warriors he was willing to pit against the 
French, and then placed many times more sticks, 
opposite the first, to represent the number of 
Frenchmen his few chosen warriors were willing to 
battle with; but the officers refused to accept his 
challenge and only said: 'We will attack you,' and 
Wa-pa-sai-ya replied: 'Go ahead when you want 
to.' The French retired to their camp and, after 
consultation, advanced against the Foxes in great 
numbers. The Foxes saw them coming from a long 
way off and made an ambush and defeated the 
French and drove them back. Wa-pa-sai-ya killed 
the prisoners he had taken, all but one, to whom he 
said: 'Go back to your people and tell them to come 
in greater numbers than before, when they again 
want to come against me. You will live to deliver 
this message and then die.' The Frenchman went 
back and did as he had been told, and, sure enough, 
then died. The French did come in greater num- 



348 LOST MARAMECH 

bers, and were again defeated by the Foxes. The 
French, then fearing that they could make no more 
headway against the Foxes, got all of their friends, 
the warriors of the other tribes, to help them; they 
came from every direction, from all the nations, and 
fought the Foxes. By and by they crowded the 
Foxes into their defenses and surrounded them. 
Soon after Wa-pa-sai-ya became tired of fighting 
and broke his own bow and those his friends gave 
him. Then his people said to him: 'What is the 
matter with you? Why do you stop fighting? You 
should remember that you are the one who brought 
all this trouble upon us. We told you it was not 
right to mistreat guests, and that you might have to 
suffer for all this, but you would not listen to us; 
now, in the midst of this war, you want to stop 
fighting when we need you most'; but he would not 
listen. Now, with the enemy, was a Mascoutin, and 
this Mascoutin had a son, and this son had a dream 
one night. He told the dream to his father, saying: 
'I dreamed that I captured Wa-pa-sai-ya.' 'Well, 
is that so?' said the father. Then he went and got a 
drum and told his son to strike it. When this was 
done the father said: 'Draw a picture of Wa-pa- 
sai-ya on the drum-head and strike it.' The son hit 
the drum as he was told. He was bidden to hit it 
again, and the head burst. 'It is true,' said the 
father, 'the dream will come true; that test has 
proved it.' Then the son joined the other warriors. 
By and by he returned and brought W r a-pa-sai-ya 
with him as a prisoner, and tied him to a tree. The 
father went out to see what all of the noise was 
about. He saw Wa-pa-sai-ya tied to the tree and 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 



349 



mistook him for his son, as the son and Wa-pa-sai-ya 
looked much alike; and so the father had the 
prisoner set free and took him up to his lodge and 
there fed him. When Wa-pa-sai-ya had eaten, the 
father gave him two wives; but after a while the 
father learned that it was Wa-pa-sai-ya, and had him 
tied to the tree again. While they were preparing 
to bind him the people asked him, 'Who was it that 
killed our chief, and when?' He replied, 'It was 
one of my friends, in the last big fight we had, and 
as he hit your chief on the head it was like hitting a 
dog on the head and making him howl.' Then they 
tied Wa-pa-sai-ya to the tree again. The Mascoutin 
said to him: 'Are you hungry, Wa-pa-sai-ya?' And 
the victim said he was. At that the Mascoutin cut 
a slice from the thigh of Wa-pa-sai-ya, cooked it on 
the coals of the fire and gave it to him to eat. 
When he had finished eating it the Mascoutin again 
said: 'Are you still hungry, Wa-pa-sai-ya?' 'Yes, 
of course I am,' said the victim. Then the Mas- 
coutin cut a slice from the calf of Wa-pa-sai-ya's 
leg, cooked it and gave it to Wa-pa-sai-ya, and he 
ate it. They repeated the cutting out of slices, 
cooking them and feeding him until the flesh was 
all gone and only the bones remained, hanging 
together, tied to the tree. Then fire was placed 
under the bones, and thereupon the Mascoutin chief 
came up and, as the fire was kindled, said to the 
bones of Wa-pa-sai-ya: 'Now, Wa-pa-sai-ya, you 
shall burn, and at some future time your town and 
people shall burn.' When this was said the tree to 
which the victim's bones were tied turned round in 
its place, as a sign, but the bones remained un- 



35Q 



LOST MARAMECH 



moved. While the tree was turning, a voice came 
from the bones saying, 'I shall burn, and your town 
shall burn.' Some one pushed the Mascoutin chief 
and he almost fell into the fire, and see-med restrained 
there as by some mysterious force; help was needed 
to put him on his feet again — he almost died there. 

"A little while afterward the Foxes fell upon the 
Mascoutins, killed nearly all and burned the town, 
and that is why there are so few Mascoutins to-day.* 

"Thus was the prophecy fulfilled, and thus the 
people were made to know that Wa-pa-sai-ya was 
supernatural; being a Manitou, he passed above, 
and the bright star in the great white river overhead 
is he. 

"Soon after this the nations again came and 
united against the Foxes, and the fighting became 
hard and incessant. Then the old men said to the 
young men: 'Let us old men go out and do the 
fighting; we have not long to live and we can well 
spare the rest of our time wearing the enemy out; 
let them waste part of their strength on us. You 
stay here and take care of the women and children 
and fight when it comes your turn, and that will be 
when all the old men are killed off.' Every time 
the old men withdrew they returned fewer in num- 
bers, and at last all were killed. Then the fighting 
fell upon the young men. It was about the time 
when the corn was ripening in the fields. Among 
the Foxes was a young man who fasted and dreamed, 
and he dreamed that he was blest by the Great 

* This part of the tradition may be considered as a sugges- 
tion that the lost tribe of the Illinois and Wisconsin prairies 
was destroyed, or at least depleted, by the Foxes. 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 351 

Spirit, and he said to the people: 'I am going to 
make the enemy sleep,' and so saying he sang and 
beat upon a drum. At once the weather grew cold 
and snow began to fall. The enemy went into their 
tents and slept soundly, and out of the stockade 
went the Foxes. They went in two directions, one 
part to the north and the other to the east. Those 
who went to the east were women and children, 
with a force of young men to protect them. They 
followed a young man who drew a strip of rawhide 
behind him to make a trail for them to follow. 
When they came to a high place they built a fort. 

"The party that passed to the north was made up of 
a force of young men who made a big, broad trail 
in the snow in order to draw the enemy after them 
and thus keep the women and children out of dan- 
ger and give them time to build a fort. As was 
expected, the large trail was discovered and alarm 
raised in the camp of the enemy. 'They are flee- 
ing! They are fleeing!' they shouted, and came upon 
the Fox warriors in full force. The Foxes held 
them back until they thought the women had had 
time to build another fort, and then gave way and 
joined their friends in the new stockade. Then the 
enemy came again, and were beaten back. The 
Foxes scattered, and the small parties were pursued 
by the enemy. Most were captured, but many 
escaped." 

In this mixture of myths and facts only a few 
points of similarity with the accounts left by the 
French can be found. We learn that most of the 
neighboring tribes were against the Foxes. The 
Foxes were in a stockaded defense when last 



352 



LOST MARAMECH 



attacked. They held parleys with the French. 
"It was about the time the corn was ripening in the 
fields." It became very cold. The Foxes escaped 
in the night, in two parties, and went in two direc- 
tions, one to the north, the tradition says (but, as 
previously stated, I believe the direction to have 
been northeast) and were overtaken upon the hill a 
mile away, where so many arrow-heads marked the 
place of some great event. "Most were captured, 
but many escaped." The French accounts say that 
those who escaped were a few old women, and they 
without supplies. 

Only the traditions, nourished by the remaining 
Foxes, tell them of the wanderings of their ances- 
tors after the disastrous siege of 1730. Notwith- 
standing the frequent returns by the hunting parties 
to the hunting-grounds, the place of defeat became 
lost to them. When the great Sac warrior, Black 
Hawk, chief by common approval, but not by elec- 
tion, strove to repossess the hunting-grounds and 
fields, having Saukenuk as their center, a few Foxes 
joined the Sacs and Pottawatomies against the 
whites. 

Leaving the stormy council held on the Sycamore 
creek, Shaubena and Waubansie, friends of the 
whites, sought their respective villages. They had 
not succeeded in convincing Black Hawk of the 
hopelessness of his undertaking. He had refused 
to recross the Mississippi to the new grounds 
allotted to his tribe. Shaubena had not succeeded 
in holding all of the young warriors of his tribe in 
check, and was spurred by his humane sentiments to 
warn all the settlers within his reach of the coming 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 353 

storm. Arriving at his village, on his reservation, 
he sent his son, Pypogee, and also his nephew, 
Pyps, to give warning to the whites who, like the 
Miamis, a century and a half before, had chosen for 
their home the five prairies that radiate from the 
site of ancient Maramech. Down the Kishwaukee 
Trail, over Maramech Hill, where a scar of the trail 
still remains, and onward over the ford where the 
east-and-west ancient trail, mapped in in 1680, 
crosses, with panting steeds they sped on their errand 
of mercy. A detachment of Black Hawk's band 
arrived only to find themselves too late. The 
whites had fled, and the disappointed warriors 
vowed vengeance on Shaubena. But for the warn- 
ing, a score of settlers would have been slain, some 
within hearing of a rifle-shot from the ancient fort 
upon the hill. But a dozen miles away a half score 
or more, who had scoffed at the warning, met 
death. 

So closed the last scene in the tragedy of savage 
life. The curtain dropped to again be raised only 
for the drama of civilized life. 

In the middle fifties an aged Indian, straight as 
an arrow, with a one-horse wagon and squaw of 
width to almost fill it when seated, crept northward 
over the road that, when a mere trail, had been 
traveled by the French in going by land from Fort 
St. Louis to Chicago. He turned therefrom to fol- 
low up the "Little River," as called in the early 
military reports. This last representative of our 
local tribes was Shaubena with his squaw. The 
road cleft in the side of the hill that skirts the 
stream had not yet been made. The old trail over 



354 LOST MARAMECH 

the hill, not prepared for wheeled vehicles, so wound 
among the trees and dropped so abruptly to the 
north that he was forced to take a newer road, made 
by the whites. Hence it was only across the swamp 
that he saw the hill so fatal to the Foxes. He 
passed within a stonethrow of the site of De Villiers' 
little fort and onward to the new village of Piano, 
where he exchanged furs for necessities. For a 
time he camped near the head of the cool stream 
that, miles below, bathes the foot of Maramech Hill. 
Since then the eyes of no red man have rested 
upon the scene of alternate storm and calm. 




Shaubena, a Pottawatlomy Chief. 
A friend to the whites. 



CHAPTER XXIV 



CHICAGO 



The question as to the origin of the name of our 
great city of the west has often been raised, but 
never in a manner so novel as by the author of 
Remi?iiscences of Early Chicago, in whose interest- 
ing book we find what purports to be an extract 
from a letter written by La Salle to a friend in 
France: "Were I to give this place a name, I would 
derive it from the nature of the place and the nature 
of the man who will occupy this place: ago, I act; 
circum, all around — Circago." I do not find any- 
thing like this in any of the writings of La Salle, 
and believe that I have a copy of every scratch of 
La Salle's pen that did not perish with him. If he 
ever did propose the name, he did not use it, for we 
find him using the name given to the stream by the 
Algonquin tribes, the meaning of which is stated by 
Cadillac, an officer in command at Mackinaw and 
other pLaces, who wrote in 1695 or perhaps a little 
later: "The post of Chigagou comes next [in going 
westward]. The word signifies 'the river of the 
onion,' because it [the onion] is there produced 
naturally without any care, in great quantities." 

Knowing what he is seeking one may, in early 
harvest time, see the prairies about the Chicago and 
Des Plaines rivers given a pale pink hue by the 
blossom of the plant that gave the river its name, 
which name was often also applied to the Des 

355 



356 LOST MARAMECH 

Plaines. In the Fox dialect of the Algonquin lan- 
guage, the skunk is known by a name very similar, 
the difference being but slight. It is not strange 
that the animal and plant received names one so like 
the other, for it was an Indian custom to give names 
that accorded with the characteristics of the object. 
Whether the word originally meant merely a bad 
smell, or a skunk, or an onion, does not matter, for 
if either, all is clear. Low, flat, and wet prairies do 
not produce skunks, but do breed crawfishes and 
wild onions, and the river now rendered nauseous 
by the sewage of a great city, was then a clear 
stream and not deserving a name indicating an odor 
not pleasant. 

Allouez, 1680 (Margry, II., 95), uses descriptive 
words when speaking of the region: "The prairies 
. . . being wet all the time." 

La Salle, late in 1681, wrote: "And all my people 
who, having marched three days along the lake and 
gained the portage called Chicagou, were waiting," 
etc., and in the letter repeats the name twelve 
times. In the same letter he says: "The land there 
produces naturally a quantity of roots good to eat, 
as wild ognons [onions]," and he also refers to the 
garlic. 

Father Membre wrote of Chicagou in 1683. 
(Margry, II., 206.) 

La Salle wrote a letter to La Barre, then Governor 
of Canada, beginning: "Da portage dc Chicagou, 4 
Juin, i68j." (Margry, II., 317.) 

Le Clercq (First Establishment of the Faith, Shea's 
translation, II., 162) says: "On the 21st of Decem- 
ber I embarked with Sieur de Tonty and a part 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 357 

of our people on Lake Dauphin [Michigan], to 
go to the divine river, called by the Indians Che- 
cagou, in order to make the necessary arrangements 
for our voyage. The Sieur de La Salle joined us 
there with the rest of the troop on the 4th of Jan- 
uary, 1682." 

Tonty, in his memoir {Historical Collections of 
Louisiana, I., 65), says: "We arrived about the end 
of June, 1682, at the river Chicagou." 

Tonty, in his Relation dated November 14, 1684 
(Margry, II., 251), says: "After we had drawn our 
equipage seventy leagues, namely, twenty, on the 
river of Chicago [Des Plaines]," etc. (The date 
given is 1683, evidently a slip of the pen.) 

Late in 1687 Joutel an< ^ others "arrived at Chi- 
cagou on the 29th of March," from La Salle's ill- 
fated settlement in Texas. 

La Salle wrote in 1680 (Margry, II., 82): "It was 
therefore necessary, at the end of the lake, where 
navigation is ended, at the place called Chicagou, 
to pack close the things that they had brought in 
the boats, and transport them to the canoes two 
leagues from there [to the Des Plaines river]." 

Father Gravier, writing in 1698, says: "He, as 
well as Father Pinet, at Chicagwa, will do them- 
selves the pleasure of rendering them any kind of 
service." (Jestiit Relations, LXV. , 61.) Father 
Pinet's mission was then with the branch of the 
Miami tribe whose village presumably it was that 
was located where so many relics have been found, 
on the north branch of the Chicago river. 

We learn from the father that the malarial fevers 
("fever and ague" of our own early times) were 



358 LOST MARAMECH 

contracted by the people of the prairies, both 
natives and whites. 

The natives resorted to all sorts of remedies for 
diseases, and sometimes attempted to propitiate the 
god or the demon that was responsible for the ill- 
ness of a comrade by sacrifices, and sometimes 
thought to interest the god or demon by playing 
some of their most interesting games for his bene- 
fit, for instance, the game of ball. Reports have 
reached us that those efforts were eminently suc- 
cessful. 

The efforts later made by the early fathers seemed 
to have been equally successful. The following is 
found in Father Guignas' account. He left Chika- 
goua (Chicago) in 1700 for New Orleans, and wrote: 

"I found an excellent remedy to cure our French 
of their fevers. I promised God jointly with Peter 
de Bonne, who had a violent tertian fever for a con- 
siderable time, to recite for nine days prayers in 
honor of Father Francis Regis, whose relics I have, 
which I applied to him in the height of his fever, 
when it ceased suddenly, and he had no more of it 
after that time. After my novena I resumed my 
reliquary, which I hung around the neck of Louis 
de Hemme of Rivi6re du Loup, with whom I began 
a second novena, and from the first day the fever left 
him; and having taken off my reliquary the fourth 
or fifth day of the novena to hang it on the neck of 
one by name Augustine la Pointe of Cote St. Michel 
in Canada, who had already had two or three attacks 
of fever, it took De Hemme again, who feeling him- 
self cured, had said that he was not afraid of being 
sick with that reliquary always hung around his 



AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 359 

neck, and as soon as I took it off the fever came 
back and did not leave him till after the novena, 
and La Pointe was cured perfectly from the first day 
that I hung my reliquary around his neck, which I 
did not remove till the novena was completed. And 
at this moment Pierre Chabot of Isle Orleans, who 
had the fever for more than six months, having hung 
it on his neck, the third day of the novena that 
stubborn fever diminished and he was entirely rid of 
it at the end of the novena. A small piece of 
Father Regis' hat, which one of our domestics gave 
me, is the most infallible remedy that I can have to 
cure all kinds of fevers." 

Many, since the death of Father Guignas, yet 
live who can say that the malarial fevers incident to 
the low lands around both ancient and modern Chi- 
cago were never as easily cured by the white phy- 
sician and his remedies. 



Appendix 



PARIS DOCUMENTS 

The larger part of the following documents were copied for 
me from the archives of the Minister of Marine, at Paris, by- 
Prof. Charles M. Andrist. The documents are reproduced 
verbatim as far as possible, accompanied by translations. It 
is believed that, except those found in the Wisconsin His- 
torical Collection, none has before been published. 

REPORTS 

Fox Savages 

[Of the 6th of May, 1630.] 

M. le Marq. de Beauharnois a marque qu'un party de 200 
sauvages surpis 20 cabannes des Renards et qu'il avoit este 
massacre ou brule 80 hommes et 300 femmes et enfans, ne 
s'etaint sauve que trois hommes. Que depuis cette aventure 
le grand chef des Renards avoit este trouve le commandant 
francais a la Riviere St. Joseph pour demander misericorde et 
qu'il devoit descendre pour cela a Montreal aimant mieux 
courir les risques d'estre tue en chemin que dans son village. 

Que l'entreprise faite contre eux en 1728 a fait tant d'impres- 
sion dans l'esprit des autres nations, qu'elles se maintiendront 
dans le party des francais et continueront la guerre contre les 
Renards. 

TRANSLATION: 

Le Marc de Beauharnois has noted that a party of two hun- 
dred savages surprised twenty cabins (tepees) of the Foxes, 
and that there has been massacred or burned eighty men and 
three hundred women and children, only three men having got- 
ten away. That since that adventure the Grand Chief of the 
Foxes had been to see the French Commandant at the River 

361 



362 APPENDIX 

St. Joseph in order to beg for mercy, and that he had to 
descend for that to Montreal, preferring rather to run the risk 
of being killed on the road than in the village. That the 
enterprise undertaken against them in 1728 had made such an 
impression upon the minds of the other nations that they will 
now keep on the side of the French and continue the war 
against the Foxes. 

[Of the 25th of June, 1630.] 
Le Dubuisson commandant a Missilimakinic luy avoit donne 
avis que toutes les nations des pays d'enhaut estoient si fort 
animes contre les Renards, qu'un corps de "sauvages assez 
considerable l'avoit prie de se mettre a leur tete pour tomber 
sur les Renards; qu'il l'avoit accepte et qu'il estait party avec 
600 sauvages et 20 francais. 
TRANSLA TION: 

Le Dubuisson, Commandant at Missilimakinac, had advised 
him that all the nations of the upper country were so embit- 
tered against the Foxes that quite a large body of savages had 
begged him to place himself at their head in order to fall upon 
the Foxes ; that he had accepted, and that he had departed 
with six hundred savages and twenty Frenchmen. 

[Of the 18th of October, 1730.] 

Mrs. de Beauharnois et Hocquart marquent que les raisons 
qui ont engage le Dubuisson dans cette demarche leur font 
penser qu'il ne sera pas desaprouv6 d'autant plus que le bien 
du service et la necessity qu'il y avoit d'en imposer aux nations 
sur les discours desavantageux qu'elles tenoient du peu de 
succes de la Campagne de 1728 le demandait. 

II est vray qu'il n'a pas reussy dans cette entreprise quoy 
qu'il ait aporte toute Implication et le zele qu'on pouvait atten- 
dre mais les Renards estaient decampez de leur fort avant son 
arrivee. II les a meme pour suivy pendant quelques jours 
inutilement. 

La depense qu'il a faite en cette occasion pourra monter a ce 
qu'il leur a marque a 2 ou 3 M — . lis en envoyeront l'estat 
l'annee prochaine. Cependant afin qu'aucun autre comman- 
dant ne tombe pas dans le meme cas. M. de Beauharnois a 
ecrit a tous les commandants des postes de ne point accepter 
de pareilles propositions de la par des sauvages sans recevoir 



APPENDIX 363 

auparavant ses ordres. II a pareillemertt deffendu de traitter 
ny armes ny munitions tant aux Renards qu'a leurs allies dans 
le nombre desquels sont particulierement les Sakis. lis 
ajoutent que cette derniere tentative du Sr. le Dubuisson a 
existe denouveau dans l'esprit des nations la defaite entiere 
des Renards; Les Sioux qui ne s'estoient pas jusqu'a present 
declares ont frappe dessus et en ont tue douze; Ainsy il y a 
aparence qu'ils saffoibliront de maniere qu'ils [ne pourront 
plus se relever et qu'on assurera par ce moyen la tranquilite 
des pays d'enhant sans qu'il soit besoin dorenavant d'autres 
secours que des sauvages m ernes que M. de Beauharnois con- 
tinuera d'entretenir dans ces dispositions jusqu'a ce que les 
Renards soient entierement detruits ou qu'ils soient soumis 
aux conditions prescrittes s'ils demandait la paix. 

TRANS LA TION: 

Messrs. de Beauharnois and Hocquart note that the reasons 
which have induced le Dubuisson in this move makes them 
think that he will not be censured, the more so as the good of 
the service demanded it, and the necessity that there was of 
overawing the nations for the slighting remarks which they 
made about the lack of success of the Company of 1728. 

It is true that he did not succeed in that enterprise, although 
he devoted all the application and zeal which could be 
expected, but the Foxes had decamped from their fort before 
his arrival. He even pursued them uselessly for several days. 

The expenses which he had on this occasion will amount to 
what he noted to them, to two or three M — . They will send 
the account of it the next year. However, in order that no 
other commandant may fall in the same error, M. de Beauhar- 
nois has written to all the commandants of the posts to not 
accept such propositions on the part of the savages, without 
first receiving orders from him. He has likewise forbidden to 
furnish either arms or munitions to the Foxes and their allies 
in the number of which are particularly the Saks. They add 
that this last attempt of M. le Dubuisson has revived anew in 
the minds of the nations the complete defeat of the Foxes. 
The Sioux, who up to the present had not declared themselves, 
attacked them and killed twelve. Thus there is an appearance 
that they will become enfeebled, so much so that they will not 



364 APPENDIX 

be able to recover, and by these means the tranquillity of the 
upper country will be assured, without any further need of 
other assistance than the savages themselves, whom M. le 
Beauharnois will continue to keep in that disposition until the 
Foxes are entirely destroyed, or have submitted to the condi- 
tions prescribed, if they ask for peace. 

[Of the 10th of October, 1730.] 

Le Marqs. de Beauharnois envoye la copie d'une lettre que 
luy a ecrit le Commandant du Detroit le 22 Aoust, 1730: 

II en resulte que deux sauvages Mascoutins arrives a la 
Riviere St. Joseph ou commande le Sr. de Villiers ont raporte" 
que les Renards se battoient avec les Ilinois entre le Rocher 
et les Ouyatanons, que les puants, Mascoutins et Quiquapoux 
s'estaient joints aux Ilinois et avoient tombe sur les Renards 
qui se trouverent par ce moyen enfermez des deux costes mais 
dans le moment que les puants les Mascoutins et Quiquipoux 
attaquoient les Renards compants que les Ilinois leur feroient 
face de l'autre coste, ceux cy prirent la fuite. II y a eu dans 
cette gr attaque 6 puants blessez et un tue. II a este tue aussy 
deux Quiquapoux de la Riviere St. Joseph qui estoient etablis 
parmi les Sakis, ce qui fera un bon effet parceque cela les a 
anime contre des Renards et il s'en fallait beaucoup qu'ils ne 
le fussent auparavant. II y a eu aussi plusieurs Renards tues 
ou blessez. 

Les francais des Cahosquia ont reproche aux Ilinois qu'ils 
estoient des femmes et qu'ils ne scavoient point se battre; qu'a 
leur egard ils alloient partir avec leurs Negres pour le joindre 
aux sauvages et defaire les Renards ; ils forment deja un party 
assez considerable. Car les Ilinois qui avoit fuyont re joint, ils 
ont fait des troux en terre pour se mettre a l'abry et les 
Renards sont dans un Islet de bois, si'ils y restent il y a toute 
aparence qu'ils pouront este defaits, parceque les Sr. de Vil- 
liers devoit partir de la Riviere St. Joseph avec tous ses gens et 
devoit en ecrire au commandement du detroit pour demander 
le secours des ses sauvages, mais ces lettres ne luy sont point 
encore arrivee et ses sauvages qui doutent ce cette nouvelle ne 
veulent point partir que les lettres du Sr. de Villiers ne soient 
arriv6es on ne doit cependant point douter que ces nouvelles 
ne soient veritables. Le Pere Messager, missionnaire a St. 



APPENDIX 365 

Joseph, ayant ecrit a peu pres la meme chose a P. la Richardy, 
missionnaire du detroit. Les puants du detroit parvissent 
bien determinez a y aller, aussy bien qu'une partie des Outases, 
mais il y tres peu de Hurons par ce qu'il en est reste 80 du 
party qui avait marche le printemps dernier. II en est cepen- 
dant arrive il y a huit jours qui ont aporte une Chevelure des 
Chicachas, on espere que le reste des Hurons pourra rejoindre 
et ce sera un bon renfort. 

Les Renards ont dit qu'ils attendoient un gros party d' Iro- 
quois qui devait les joindre et leur accorder retraite. lis ont 
peut estre tenu ces discours pour epouvanter les autres nations. 
Cependant il est tres sur que les Iroquois a la sollicitation des 
Anglais sement tous les jours des colliers qui nous sont tres 
prejudiciables. — Canada, Correspondance Ghierale, 1731, Vol. 
LVI,p.32i. 

[Here begins a chapter on the'Sioux.] 

TRANSLATION: 

The Marquis de Beauharnois sends the copy of a letter which 
the Commandant of Detroit had written him August 22, 1730: 

It appears that two Mascoutin savages who came to the River 
St. Joseph where M. de Villiers commanded, reported that the 
Foxes were fighting with the Illinois between the Rock and 
the Ouatonons, that the Puants, Muscoutines and Kickapoos 
had joined the Illinois and had fallen upon the Foxes, who 
found themselves by this move hemmed in on both sides, but 
at the moment when the Puants, the Muscarines and Kicka- 
poos attacked, expecting the Illinois to face them on the other 
side, the latter fled. There were in that great attack six 
Puants wounded and one killed; there were also killed two 
Kickapoos of the River St. Joseph, who were established 
among the Saks, which will produce a good effect, because 
that will excite them against the Foxes, and it lacked but little 
before. There were also several Foxes killed or wounded. 

The French of the Cahosquia reproached the Illinois, saying 
that they were women and did not know how to fight ; that, as 
for themselves, they were going to leave with their negroes to 
join the savages and defeat the Foxes ; they already form quite 
a large party, for the Illinois, who had fled, joined them. 
They made holes in the ground in order to get under cover, 



366 APPENDIX 

and the Foxes are in a little islet of wood. If they remain 
there, there is every appearance that they will be defeated, 
since M. de Villiers was to leave the River St. Joseph with all 
his men, and was to write of it to the Commandant at Detroit, 
to ask him for the assistance of his savages, but these letters 
have not yet reached him, and his savages, who doubt this 
news, do not wish to depart because the letters from M. de 
Villiers have not arrived. There should be no doubt, however, 
but that this news is true, Le Pere, Missionary Messenger at 
St. Joseph, having written about the same thing to P. la 
Richardy, Missionary at Detroit. The Puants, of Detroit, 
appear very much determined to go, as well as a party of the 
Outeses, but there were very few Hurons, because there 
remained eighty from the party which had marched last 
spring. There arrived, however, some eight days ago, [one] 
who brought "a scalp from the Chicasaws. It is hoped that the 
remainder of the Hurons will be able to join, and that will 
make a good re enforcement. The Foxes said that they were 
expecting a large party of Iroquois, which was to join them 
and offer them refuge. They perhaps have [said] these things 
in order to frighten the other nations. However, it is very 
sure the Iroquois, at the instigation of the English, send every 
day beads, which will be very harmful to us. 

[The preceding are analyses of letters written by M. le Mar- 
quis de Beauharnois to M. de Maurepas, Minister of the 
Marine. The original letters do not exist, simply the analyses, 
made by a clerk employed in the Ministry.] 

New Expedition against the Foxes 

[The Marquis de Beauharnois's letter to the Minister, June 25, 
1730, relates to a new expedition against the Foxes:] 

My Lord: — The Sieur de Buisson, who commands at Macki- 
naw, has dispatched to me a canoe from there, with advice that 
all the nations of the upper country were very much excited 
against the Foxes; that a considerable body of Indians had 
collected and requested him to place himself at their head, to 
fall upon the nation, and destroy it entirely. He states that 
he thought best not to refuse, inasmuch as their proposition 
tended toward the peace of the colony, and it was very neces- 



APPENDIX 367 

sary to take the step to overcome the Indians and cut short 
their remarks against the French, concerning our little suc- 
cess in the last campaign against the Foxes. 

This officer, My Lord, must have left his post the 20th of last 
May, with six hundred men, among whom were fifty French- 
men. We have unfortunately no further account of this expe- 
dition of De Buisson. 

I have the honor to send you hereunto annexed the extract 
from a letter, written to me by the Sieur Marin, who com- 
manded at the Folle-Avoins, concerning the movement he 
made last March, against the Foxes, with the Indians of this 
post, through their solicitations, as you will see in the details 
of this adventure or action, which was of the warmest charac- 
ter, and very well supported. This officer informs me that he 
was present at the council held at Mackinaw, when the Indians 
invited Monsieur de Buisson to place himself at their head, 
and that a few of the Folle-Avoins who were there also pre- 
sented to him the tomahawk (as is customary on similar occa- 
sions), to invite him to be one of the expedition. Monsieur 
Marin must have gone with the Sieur de Buisson. I expect 
news from their expedition before the last of July, of which I 
will have the honor of informing you immediately. I have 
also the honor of being, with great respect, your very humble 
and obedient servant, BEAUHARNOIS. 

Montreal, June 25, 1730. 

TRANSLA TION: 

Sieur de Villiers Defeats the Foxes 
[Messieurs Beauharnois and Hocquart's letter to the Minister, 
Nov. 2, 1730:] 

My Lord: — The Sieur Colon de Villiers, son of Sieur de 
Villiers, commanding at the River St. Joseph, has just arrived, 
dispatched by his father, to bring us the interesting news of 
the almost total defeat of the Foxes ; two hundred of their war- 
riors being killed on the spot, or burned after having been 
taken as slaves, and six hundred women and children were 
absolutely destroyed. This affair took place in September 
under the command of De Villiers, to whom were united the 
Sieur de Noyelle, commanding the Miamis, and the Sieur de 



3 68 APPENDIX 

Saint Ange, father and sons, from the Government of Louisi- 
ana, with the French of that distant colony, together with 
those of our post, and all the neighboring Indians, our allies; 
we numbered from 1200 to 1300 men. The Marquis de Beau- 
harnois will have, My Lord, the honor to send you a descrip- 
tion of the action, by the Sieur de Fevie's vessel, which will sail 
in about eight or ten days. We risk this letter by vessel going 
to Martinique, which may pass the Isle Royal. It was at the 
point of starting that we learned this news. This is a brilliant 
action, which sheds great honor on Sieur de Villiers, who 
through it .may flatter ^himself as having some share in your 
friendship, and the honor of your protection in the promotion 
which is to take place. 

BEAUHARNOIS AND HOQUART. 

[The above is quoted from the Wisconsin Historical Collec- 
tion, in which the editor says: "This boat was wrecked and 
the dispatches returned to Beaubarnois and Hoquart, among 
the rest those regarding the last defeat of the Foxes."] 

[Perrier, Governor of Louisiana, to De Maurepas, March 25, 

J'ay 1' honneur d'informer Votre Grandeur de la defaite des 
Renards sur les terres de la Louisianna par les Illinois et les 
nations des frontieres du Canada. Nos sauvages se plaingnent 
que ceux du Canada ont trop garde d'esclaves qu'ils denoient 
tous les tuer comme ils ont fait, quelque bien quaillent les 
affaires les sauvages ne [sont jamais content? ce que j'ay pu 
scavoir de plus positif 'par les Francais qui estoient a cette 
Expedition c'est qu'on a tuez onze a douze cent renards, tant 
hommes que femmes et enfans? cette destruction fait un bien 
infini a la Colonie de la Louisianne dont le progres estoit arreste 
par les courses continuelles que fasoient ces sauvages tant sur 
les francois que sur les Illinois, a present ce pais va devinir 
dautant plus fertile qu'il sera peuple et mieux cultive. ce 
quartier doit estre regarde comme un des plus important de 
cette colonie, et il faut absolument que la Compagnie y entre- 
tienne un grand estat-major. non seulement pour contenir 
les sauvages mais les francois coureurs et libertins qui establis- 
sent dans cet endroit hors de dessou les yeux des gouverneurs? 



APPENDIX 369 

de plus le fleuve estant devenu libre par la destruction des 
natchez, thioux, yazous et corrois qui avaient resolu de det- 
ruire les establissements des francois. de ces quatre nations 
qui estoient sur le fleuve il n'en reste pas quarante hommes qui 
sont disperses pour esviter de tomber entre les mains des 
autres nations qui j'ai mis apres eux. 

L'expedition que je viens de faire, Monseigneur, prouve a 
Votre Grandeur qu'on a eu tort de lui insinuer que la guerre 
contre les sauvages icy ne se pouvoit que par d'autres sauvages 
j'ay pense le contraire depuis que je suis dans ce pays icy. 
j'ay esprouve depuis seize mois sans rien espargner que les 
sauvages sont bons et a s'entre escarmoucher et a lever quel- 
ques cheveleures par cy par la mais incapable de pouvoir forcer 
ni detruire une nation fortifiee. javoue que nous suffrirons 
dans les premieres marches que nous ferons, mais rien n'est 
impossible au francais bien conduit il se fait peu a peu aux 
marches les plus penibles quand il s'agit de la gloire du Roy? 
Les officiers et les soldats qui ont marche avec mon frere et moy 
n 'estoient asseurement pas faits aux fatigues de ce pais icy. 
Qui ont este le plus rude qu'on ait veu depuis 30 ans. leur 
zele, et leur emulation ne leur a fait faire aucune difference 
entre le beau et le mauvais terns quand il s'est agi d'attaquer 
l'ennemy. que nous avons trouve dans un pais jusqu'a lors 
inconnu a tous francois et meme a nos sauvages alliez dont 
aucun na pu nous servir de guide, c'est dans cette scitu- 
ation si capable d'abatre le courage le plus dur que les 
officiers ont fait voir par leur example que rien n'estoit 
impossible aux Francais qui ne travaillent que pour la gloire 
du Roy? 

On a voulu egalement faire voire a Votre Grandeur que je la 
trompais lorsque j'avais l'honneur de luy marquer qu'il y avait 
17 pieds d'eau sur la barre du fleuve? je descend avec le 
vaisseau, la Somne, pour faire faire un proces verbal de 
l'entree du fleuve et je prend la liberte de dire a Votre Gran- 
deur qu'il serait tres necessaire au progres de cette colonie 
que le Roy envoya tous les ans un vaisseau dans le fleuve tant 
pour estre asseure de l'entree que pour rendre compte du succes 
des differentes cultures et de l'etat des fortresses? cette 
colonie merite l'attention de Votre Grandeur le fleuve est le 
plus beau port que la France puisse avoir dans le Golfe. il ni 



37 o APPENDIX 

avoit que douze pieds d'eau sur la barre quand je suis venu 
dans ce pais icy. j'y en ai mis 17 par le seul passage des 
vaisseaux et naiant jamais eu ce qui m'estoit necessaire pour y 
travailler de suite, je fais rester deux navires de la compagnie 
pendant huit jours sur la barre. — Correspondance Generate, 
year 173 1, Vol. XIII, Archives dn M mist ere des Colonies, 
Paris. 

TRANSLA TION: 

My Lord: — I have the honor of informing Your Greatness 
of the defeat of the Foxes upon the territory of Louisiana 
by the Illinois and the Nations of the frontiers of Canada. 
Our savages complain that those of Canada have kept too 
many slaves, that they ought to kill them all, as they have 
done. However well things go the savages are never con- 
tented. That which I have been able to learn the most 
positive from the French, who were on that expedition, is that 
they killed eleven or twelve hundred Foxes, men as well as 
women and children! This destruction will do an infinite 
amount of good to the Colony of Louisiana, whose progress 
was arrested by the continual incursions which they made 
upon the French as well as upon the Illinois. At present this 
country is going to become all the more fertile as it will become 
populous and better cultivated. This region must be regarded 
as one of the most important of this Colony, and it is absolutely 
necessary that the Company should maintain a great staff, not 
only to keep the savages in check, but the roving and libertine 
French who establish themselves in this section away from the 
eyes of the Governors. Furthermore, the river has become 
free by the destruction of the Natchez, Thioux, Yazous, and 
Corrois, who had resolved to destroy the establishments of the 
French. Of these four nations who were upon the river, there 
does not remain forty men, who have dispersed in order to 
avoid falling into the hands of the other nations whom I have 
sent after them. 

The expedition which I have just made, My Lord, proves to 
Your Grandeur that folks were wrong in insinuating that the 
war against the savages here could only be carried on by other 
savages. I have thought the contrary ever since I have been 
in this country. I have experienced, for sixteen months with- 
out sparing anything, that the savages are good to skirmish 



APPENDIX 



37i 



against each other and to take off a few scalps here and there, 
but incapable of being able to force or destroy a fortified 
nation. I avow that we shall suffer in the first marches which 
we make, but nothing is impossible to the Frenchman well led. 
He accustoms himself, little by little, to the most difficult 
marches when it is a question of the glory of the King ! The 
officers and soldiers, who have marched with my brother and 
me, were certainly not accustomed to the fatigues of this coun- 
try, which have been the most trying that have been seen for 
thirty years. Their zeal and emulation caused them to make no 
difference between the good and the bad weather when it was 
a question of attacking the enemy who are found in a country 
up to that time unknown to all French and even to our allied 
savages, of which none could serve us as guide. It was in that 
situation, so capable of striking down the courage of the most 
hardy, that the officers showed by their example that nothing 
was impossible to the French who only work for the glory of 
the King! 

Folks also wished to show Your Grandeur that I was deceiv- 
ing him when I had the honor to inform him that there were 
seventeen feet of water upon the bar of the river. I descended 
with the vessel, the Somme, to have a report made of the 
entrance of the river, and I take the liberty to say to Your 
Grandeur that it would be very necessary for the progress of 
this Colony that the King should send every year a ship into 
the river, as much to be assured of the entrance as to take 
account of the success of the different crops and the state of 
the fortresses. This Colony merits the attention of Your 
Grandeur; the river is the most beautiful port which France 
can have in the Gulf. There were only twelve feet of water 
upon the bar when I came to this country. I put in seventeen 
in the only passage of the vessels, and never having had what 
I needed to work successively at it I have had two ships of the 
Company remain on the bar for eight days. 



Monseigneur: — Nous avons eii l'honneur, Mr. Le Marquis de 
Beauharnois, et moy de vous escrie l'hiver dernier par la Nou- 
velle Angleterre, a l'occasion de la defaite des Renards. je 
joins a celle cy le duplicata de ma lettre particuliere du 16 



372 



APPENDIX 



Janvier dernier qui vous sera rendu Monseigneur par la voye 
de l'isle Royalle. 
[There is nothing more relative to the defeat of the Foxes.] 
Votre tres humble et tres obeissant serviteur, 

HOCQUART. 
A Quebec, le 16 May, 173 1. 

— Canada, Correspondance Ghi&ralc, 173/, Vol. L V 

TRANSLA TION: 

My Lord: — We had the honor, M. Le Marquise de Beauhar- 
nois and myself, to write you last winter via New England, on 
the occasion of the defeat of the Foxes. I join to this the 
duplicate of my especial letter of the 16th of January, last, which 
will be brought to you, Monseigneur, by the way of Isle Royal. 
Your most humble and most obedient servant, 

HOCQUART. 
At Quebec, May 16, 1731. 

[There are also in the archives at Paris (Canada, Corre- 
spondance Generate, 1731, Vol. LVI, p. 251) eight other letters 
relative to the wars with the Foxes, but all prior to 1730.] 

Account of the Defeat of the Foxes by the French of 
Louisiana and of Canada 

Les Renards unis avec les Maskoutins et Quickapous nous 
fesoient depuis bien des annees une guerre ouverte et aux 
sauvages nos alliez? ils surprenoient nos detachements, ils 
enlevoient nos voiageurs, traversoient tous nos dessins, et 
venoient nous inquitter meme juisque dans nos habitations, 
que nous ne pouvions cultiver que les armes a la main, on avait 
tente deja plusieurs fois de les detruire. mais le peu de con- 
cert V esprit et la mauvaise conduite de ceux qui furent charges 
en divers tems de cette entreprise l'avoient toujours fait 
eschouer, un evenement causa en fin leur desunion et la perte 
des renards. 

Au mois d'octobre de l'ann6e 1728 un parti de Quikapous et 
Maskoutins fit prisonnier sur le Missisipi dix sept francais qui 
descendoient des Sioux aux Illinois, ils delibrerent d'abord sils 
les brusleroient ou s'ils les remettroient entre les mains des 
renards qui les leur demandoient. mais le pere Guignas miss 
jesuite qui estoient du nombre des prisonniers gagna leur con- 
fiance et vint about ensuite des les detacher deux et des les 



APPENDIX 373 

engager a nous demander la paix. il vint luy merae avec eux 
aubout de cinq mois de captivite au fort de Chartres ou elle se 
conclut selon leurs souhaits. 

Les renards, affaibles et deconcertes par cette division pen- 
serent a se refugier par les ouyatannons ches les Iroquois amis 
des anglais, les quickapous et maskoutins penetrerent leur 
dessin et ils en donnerent avis dans tous les postes aux francais 
de la Louisianne et du Canada. On douta quelque tems de 
leur bonne foy, et M. de St. Ange officier commandant au fort 
de Chartres ne pouvait determiner les habitans francais a se 
mettre en campagne. 

Cependant les Illinois du village des lakokias vinrent au mois 
de juillet 1730 nous aprendre que les renards avoient fait des 
prisonniers sur eux et brule le fils de leur grand chef aupres du 
rocher sur la riviere des Illinois, ce nouvelle jointes a des avis 
que nous receumes dailleurs engagerent a partir. on assembla 
les sauvages, Mr. de St. Ange se mit a la teste des francais et 
le io e jour d'aoust ceux-ci aiant joint les trois a quatre cent 
sauvages qui les avoient devances de quelque jours notre armee 
se trouva forte de 500 hommes. 

Les Quikapous, Maskoutins et Illinois du rocher s'estoient 
rendus maitre des parrages du coste du nord'est et fut vrai- 
semblement ce qui contraignit les renards de faire un fort au 
rocher a une lieue audessous deux pour se mettre a couvert de 
leurs insultes. Nous eumes des nouvelles de l'ennemi le 12 par 
un de nos decouvreurs qui nous aprit ou estoit leur fort et qu'il 
y avoit compte cent ouze cabannes. Nous n'en estoins plus 
esloigner que de deux ou trois journees? Nous continuames 
done notre marche par des pais couverts, et le 17" a la pointe 
du jour nous arrivames a la vue de l'ennemi. Nous tombames 
sur un parti de 40 hommes qui estoient sortis pour la chasse 
que nous contraignimes de regagner leur fort. 

C'estoit un petit bouquet de bois renferme de pieux et situ6 
sur une pente douce qui s'elevoit du cote du oiiest et du nord 
oiiest le long d'une petite riviere, en sorte que du cote du sud 
et du sud'est on les voioit a decouvert leurs cabannes estoient 
fort petites et pratequees dans la terre comme les tamieres des 
renards dont ils portent le nom. 

Au bruit des premiers coups de fusil les quickapous, mas- 
koutins et Illinois qui estoient souvent aux mains avec leurs 



374 APPENDIX 

partis et qui depuis un mois attendoient du secours vinrent 
nous joindre au nombre de 200 hommes on se partagea selon 
les ordres de Mr. de St. Ange pour bloquer les renards qui 
firent ce jour la deux sorties inutiles. On ouvrit la tranchee 
la nuit suivante et chacun travailla a se fortifier dans le post 
qui luy este assigne. 

Le 19 les ennemis demanderent a parler ils offrirent de 
rendre les es claves q'uils avoient faits autrefois sur les Illinois, 
et ils en rendirent en effet quelques-uns. mais on s'apercent 
q'uils ne cherchoient qua nous amuser, on recommencea a tirer 
sur eux des le lendemain. 

Nous fumes joint les jours suivants par 50 a 60 francais et 500 
sauvages Poiiatamie, et Sakis que avaoit amenes Mr. de Vil- 
liers commandant de la riviere St. Joseph, ouyatannons et 
Peauguichias. Nouvelle conference, les renards demandent 
la vie les presents a la main. Mr. de Villiers paroit tente mais 
ses gens n'estoient pas les plus forts et il ne pouvait rien con- 
clure sans le consentement des francais et sauvages Illinois qui 
ne vouloient se preter a aucun accommodement. 

Cependant on s'apercent que les Sakis nous trahissoient, 
parens et alliez des renards, ils traittoient sous mainavec eux. 
ils leur fournissoient des munitions et ils prenoient des mesures 
pour favoriser leur evasion, nos sauvages qui ser aperceurent 
le 1" 7 bre sameutrent et ils estoient sur le point de donner 
sur les Sakis l'orsque Mr. de St. Ange a la teste de 100 fran- 
cais savanca pour fermer toutes les avenues du cote des Sakis 
et retablit le bon ordre. 

Nous dissimulames cette perfidie jusqua l'arrivee de Mr. de 
Noille commandant des Miamis qui se rendit a notre camp le 
meme jour avec 10 francais et 200 sauvages, il aportoit des 
defenses de Mr. le gouverneur du Canada de faire aucun traitte 
avec les renards. On tint un con 81 general, les Sakis y 
furent humilies et toutes les voix se reunirent pour la perte de 
1'ennemy. 

Mais nous souffrions deja depuis longtems de la faim aussi 
bien que les renards. Nos sauvages reduits a manger leurs 
pars Jleches se rebutoient 200 Illinois deserterent le 7 7 br0 ce 
mauvais example n'eut pas de suite, les renards estoient plus 
presse tous les jours les trouppes de Mr. de St. Ange construis- 
soient a deux portces de pistollet un petit fort qui alloit leur 



APPENDIX 



375 



couper la communication de la riviere, tout paroissoit nous 
annoncer une victoire complete. 

Mais le S e 7 bre un orage voilent des tonneres affreux une 
pluie continuelle interrompirent nos ouvrages. cette journee 
fut suivie d'une nuit aussi pluvieuse que noire et tres froide. 
Les renards profiterent de 1'occasion et sortirent en silence de 
leurs fort, on s'en apercent aussitot aux cris des enfants. 
mais que f aire et a quelle marque se reconnaitre dans cette 
obscurite? on craignoit egalement de tuer nos gens et de 
laisser eschaper 1'ennemi. tout le monde estoit cependant 
sous les armes et les sauvages s'avancoient sur les deux ailes 
des renards pour donner des que le jour parvitroit. il parut 
en fin et chacun se mit a les suivre. Nos sauvages plus frais et 
plus vigoureux les joignirent bientot. 

Les femmes, les enfans et les viellards marchoient a la teste 
et les guerriers s'estoient mis derriere pour les couvrir. ils 
furent d'abord rompus et defaits. le nombre des morts et des 
prisonniers fut environ de 300 hommes guerrier sans parler des 
femmes et des enfans. tous conviennent quil n'en est 
eschape au plus que 50 ou 60 hommes qui se sont sauves sans 
fusil et sans des meubles necessaires a la vie. Les Illinois du 
rocher, les maskoutins et les quikapous sont actuellement apres 
ce petit reste de fuiards et les premieres nouvelles nous apren- 
dront la destruction de cette malheureuse nation. 

Nous ne scavons pas encore combien les nations du Canada 
ont tues de guerriers non plus que le nombre d'esclaves quils 
ont faits. — Canada, Correspondance Ghi&rale, 1732, Vol. 
CL VII, p. 316. 

[This is the document which Ferland had before him when 
he wrote the description of the battle ; indeed, he made use of 
the account in toto. ] 

TRANSLATION: 

The Foxes, united with the Muscatines and Kickapoos, had 
carried on open warfare against us and against the savages, 
our allies. They surprised our detachments; they carried 
away our travelers ; thwarted all our schemes and even came 
to disturb us in our settlements, which we could only cultivate, 
our arms in our hands. Their destruction had been under- 
taken already several times, but the lack of harmony, the tem- 
per and the bad leadership of those who were charged at differ- 



376 APPENDIX 

ent times with this enterprise had always caused it to fail. 
An event finally caused their disunion and the loss of the 
Foxes. 

In the month of October of the year 1728 a party of Kicka- 
poos and Muscatines captured upon the Mississippi seventeen 
French who were descending from the Sioux to the Illinois. 
They deliberated at first whether they should burn them or 
whether they should give them into the hands of the Foxes, 
who were asking for them ; but Father Guignas, a Jesuit mis- 
sionary, who was one of the prisoners, gained their confidence 
and finally succeeded in detaching them from them [Foxes], 
and induced them to ask us for peace. He himself came with 
them, at the end of five months' captivity, to Fort de Chartres, 
where it was concluded according to their wishes. 

The Foxes enfeebled and disconcerted by this division, 
thought about taking refuge (by passing through the territory 
of the Outanous) among the Iroquois, the friends of the Eng- 
lish. The Kickapoos and Muscatines anticipated their designs, 
and they gave notice of them in all the French posts of Louisi- 
ana and of Canada. Their good faith was doubted for some 
time, and M. de St. Ange, officer commanding at Fort Char- 
tres, could not persuade the French inhabitants to take up 
arms. 

However, the Illinois'of the village of Lakokias came in the 
month of July, 1730, to tell us that the Foxes had taken some 
prisoners among them, and had burned the son of their great 
chief near^the Rock, upon the Illinois River. This news, 
joined to information we received from elsewhere, led us to 
move. The savages are brought together, M. de St. Ange 
places himself at the head of the French, and the 10th day of 
August, after having overtaken the three or four hundred 
savages which had preceded them several days, our army finds 
itself 500 men strong. 

The Kickapoos, Muscatines and Illinois of the Rock had 
taken possession of the northeast quarter, and it was probably 
that which constrained the Foxes to build a fort at the Rock a 
league below them in order to get under cover from their 
assaults. We had news of the enemy on the 12th from one of 
our scouts, who informed us where their fort was, and that he 
had counted there one hundred and eleven cabins. We were 



APPENDIX 



377 



distant from it only two or three days' march. We continued, 
therefore, our march through covered country, and the 17th, at 
the break of day, we arrived in sight of the enemy. 

We met a party of forty men'who had gone out'on the hunt, 
whom we forced to return to their fort. 

It was a little thicket of woods enclosed with piles and situ- 
ated upon a gentle slope which rose in the direction of the 
west and northwest along a little river ; so that in the direction 
of the south and southeast one saw them plainly; their tepees 
were small and set in the earth like the dens (holes) of foxes, 
whose name they bear. 

At the noise of the first gunshot the Kickapoos, Muscatines 
and the Illinois who were often in contact with their bands, and 
who had been expecting aid for a month, came to join us to 
the number of 200 men. They divided according to the orders 
of M. de St. Ange, in order to blockade the Foxes, who made 
two unfruitful attempts to get out that day. A trench was 
opened in the following night, and each worked to fortify him- 
self at the post assigned him. 

The 19th the enemy asked a parley. They offered to give 
up the slaves which they had formerly taken from the Illinois, 
and they returned several, in fact, but it could be seen that 
they were only seeking to amuse themselves. The firing upon 
them began again the next morning. 

We were joined the following day by fifty to sixty French, 
and 500 savages, Pottawattamies and Saks, whom M. de Vil- 
liers, Commandant of St. Joseph River Outamous and Peau- 
quichias, had led thither. A new conference was held. The 
Foxes asked for their lives with presents in their hands. M. de 
Villiers appeared tempted, but his followers were not the 
strongest, and he could not conclude anything without the 
consent of the French and the Illinois savages, who would not 
lend themselves to any agreement. 

In the meanwhile we perceived that the Saks were betraying 
us to the relatives and allies of ,the Foxes. They were treat- 
ing underhandedly with them. They were furnishing them 
with ammunition, and they were taking measures to favor 
their escape. Our savages, who noticed it the 1st of Septem- 
ber, mutinied, and they were upon the point of attacking the 
Saks when M. de St. Ange at the head of 100 French advanced 



378 APPENDIX 

so as to close all avenues in the direction of the Saks and re- 
establish good order. 

We feigned not to take notice of this perfidy until the arrival 
of M. de Noille, Commandant of the Miamis, who came to our 
camp the same day with ten French and 200 savages. He 
brought a prohibition from the Governor of Canada to make 
any treaty with the Foxes. A general council was held. The 
Saks were humiliated, and all voices joined for the destruction 
of the enemy. 

But we had already suffered a long time from hunger as well 
as the Foxes. Our savages, reduced to eating their shields, 
were disheartened. Two hundred Illinois deserted on the 7th 
of September. This bad example had no result. The Foxes 
were pressed harder every day. The troops of M. de St. Ange 
constructed a small fort at two lengths of a pistol-shot, 
which was to cut them off from communication with the 
river. Everything appeared to promise a complete victory 
for us. 

But on the 8th of September a violent storm, with frightful 
thunder and continual rain, interrupted our works. This day 
was followed by a night quite as rainy, dark, and very cold. 
The Foxes profited by the occasion and left their forts in 
silence. It was immediately noticed from the cries of the chil- 
dren. But what could we do, and by what marks could we 
recognize one another in that darkness? We feared equally 
killing our own men and letting the enemy escape. Every- 
one, however, was under arms, and the savages advanced 
upon the two wings of the Foxes in order to attack them as 
soon as the day should appear. It finally appeared, and each 
one began following them. Our savages, fresher and more 
vigorous, soon overtook them. 

The women, the children and the old men were marching at 
the head, and the warriors had taken their places behind them 
in order to cover them. They were at first broken and then 
defeated. The number of the dead and of the prisoners was 
about 300 warriors, without speaking of the women and the 
children. All agree that at the most only fifty or sixty men 
escaped, who ran away without guns or any weapons neces- 
sary to life! The Illinois of the Rock, the Muscatines and the 
Kickapoos are at present after this small remaining number of 



APPENDIX 



379 



runaways, and the first news will bring information of the 
destruction of that miserable nation. 

We do not yet know how many warriors the nations of 
Canada killed, nor the number of slaves which tbey have 
taken. 

Defeat of the Fox Savages 

[December 18, 1731.] 

Le 6 aoust 1730 le Sr. de Villiers commandant a la Riviere 
St. Joseph apris par deux Maskoutins qui lui furent deputes 
par leur nation que les Renards qui s'estoient mis en marche 
pour se rendre chez les Iroquois avoient ete poursuivis par les 
Poutoutamis Maskoutins Kikapous et Illinois et qu'apres avoir 
essuye deux differentes attaques de la part de ces nations, ils 
avoient gagne un bosquet de vois on ils s'estoient fortifies avec 
leurs families. 

II donne aussitot avis de cette nouvelle au Sr. de Noyelles 
commandant aux Miamis. il detacha en meme temps deux 
sauvages au Commandant du Detroit pour lui en faire par et 
le 10 du meme mois il partit lui meme a la tete de 300 francais 
ou sauvages allies pour se rendre au lieu ou etoient les Renards. 
II y trouva le Sr. de St. Ange qui y etait deja arrive de la 
Louisianne avec 100 francais et 400 sauvages. Le Sr. de 
Noyelles s'y rendit aussi avec des nations de son poste, en 
sorte que la troupe se trouva composee d'environ 1400 hommes. 

Les Renards avoient construit leur fort dans un bouquet de 
bois situe sur le bord d'une Riviere dans une vaste prairie. 
Le Sr. St. Ange s'etait campe a la gauche de cette riviere et 
avait fait faire des redoutes pour couper l'eau aux assieges ; 
mais ce redoutes devinrent inutiles, les Renards ayant trouve 
le moyen de pratiquer des chemins sou terrains qui communi- 
quoient a la riviere. 

Le Sr. de Villiers se campa a la droite de leur fort pour le 
battre. II en fit construire lui meme deux avec un cavalier et 
pour en aprocher de plus pres et essayer d'y mettre le feu, il 
fit ouvrir la tranchee. Les assieges firent d'abord grand feu 
sur lui, mais ils chercherent bientot a parlementer; les nations 
sauvages qui ne vouloient que faire des esclaves, lui propose- 
rent de les ecouter, mais il refusa constament; en sorte qu'ils 



3 8o APPENDIX 

tournerent leurs tentatives du cote du Sr. de St. Ange qui fit 
le meme refus. 

Les assieges se trouverent par la reduits a manger leur 
couvertures de peaux; malgre cet etat violent ils soutinrent 
pendant 23 jours ; mais le 8, 7 bre. il y eut un orage, si furieux 
et la nuit si obscure, qu'il ne fut pas possible au Sr. de 
Villiers d'engager les sauvages a garder les passages. Les 
assieges profiterent de cet avantage pour sortir de leur fort; 
mais les cris de leurs enfants, et une femme qui se rendit a la 
tranchee ayant decouverte leur fuite, on les poursuivit, on les 
joignit a la pointe du jour, on donna sur eux avec viguer, on 
les mit en deroute ; 200 guerriers furent tues ou brules ; 600 
femmes ou enfants eurent le meme sort, et cette defaite jointe 
aux autres pertes que cette nation avoit soufert dans les differ- 
entes attaques qu'elle avait assuye precedemment de la part 
des sauvages allies, la reduite a 30 cabannes avec quelques 
vieilles femmes sans enfans erronte sans vivres munitions. 
les Illinois ont encore frape sur elle ;* et ne trouvant d'azile 
nulle part, elle a pris le parti d'envoyer deux nouveaux chefs a 
Mr. le Marquis de Beauharnois pour lui demander la vie. 

Dans les paroles que ces 2 chefs lui ont portes de la part du 
reste de la nation ils se sont represented comme des victimes 
dignes de la mort et ils lui ont demande grace que pour reparer 
par leur soumission les crimes que leur obstination leur a fait 
commetre. Ils lui ont protest6 que si dans la suite il se 
trouve quelque coupable ils le livreront eux-memes pour 
estre puni ; et pour assurance de leur protestation, ils lui ont 
demande quelqu'un pour les gouverner. Mr. le Marquis de 
Beauharnois leur a repondu avec fermete, il leur a fait voir 
l'indignite de leur conduite, il leur a reproche leur trahisons, 
et les tentatives qu'ils avoient faites ches les Sonontouans dans 
le temps qu'ils lui demandoient la paix. II leur a dit qu'il 
voulait d'autres assurances de leur fidelite que leur protesta- 
tions et leurs paroles; et il a exige que l'un d'eux restat aupres 
de lui, et que 1' autre allot chercher 4 des principaux guerriers 
de la nation pour lui venir demander pardon l'annee prochaine 
a Montreal ; sans quoi tout ce reste miserable seroit extermine 

* Suivant une lettre du Sr. deBoishebert, commandant au Detroit du 15 
juillet 1731 les Illinois ont tu<5 dans cette occasion 3 femmes et fait. 



APPENDIX 381 

sans misericorde, cette condition a este accepte l'un des chefs 
est parti pour aller faire, par a sa nation de la reponse de Mr. 
le Marquis de Beauharnois l'autre est reste aupres de lui et on 
attend le printemps prochain le 4 guerriers. Les sauvages 
paroissent cependant vouloir en eteindre la race, et M. le 
Marquis de Beauharnois les entiendra dans cette disposition si 
cette nation manque a ce qu'elle lui a promis. 

Cette defaite a repandu la joye ches les nations et il est venu 
Teste dernier a Montreal des sauvages de toutes partes pour en 
marquer leur satisfaction a M. le Marquis de Beauharnois et 
lui renouveler les assurances de leur fidelite, el y a este d'aulant 
plus sensible lui meme que par la resignation de tous les sau- 
vages il s'est apercu de l'impression que cette guerre a fait sur 
leurs esprits et quil se trouve par ce moyen en etat de travail- 
ler a retablir dans les pays d'enhaut la paix qui y etait enter- 
rompiie depuis longtemps et d'y continuer nos etablissements. 
C'est dans cette veu quil a renvoy6 cette annee ches les Sioux 
pour y retablir le poste qu'on avait este oblige d'abandonner, a 
cause de la proximite des Renards et il a renouvelle pour cet 
effet le traite quil avait fait lors du per etablissement de ce 
poste.* 

II ne lui a paru moins important de penser au poste de la 
Baye que la proximite des Renards avait aussi fait abandon- 
ner. il y a envoye le Sr. de Villiers au retour de son expedi- 
tion pour le retablir comme il etait avant quil fut evacue en cas 
qu'il trouve les Sakis dans la disposition d'y etablir parealle- 
ment leur village. 

II a era devoir d'abord pouvoir au retablissement de ces deux 
postes d'autant plus que l'empechmens que les Renards apor- 
toient a celui des Scioux ne subsistant plus, on sera en etat 
d'en tirer tous les avantages qu'on s'etait propose. D'un autre 
cote l'enterprise de Sr. de la Veranderie le demandait, parce 
quil est absolument necessaire que cette nation soit dans nos 
interets, afin de nous mettre a portee d'estre en commerce avec 
les assiniboils et les Cristenaux ches lesquels il faut passer pour 
aller a la decouverte de la mer de l'Ouest. Les Cristenaux ont 
eu affaire avec les Sauteurs de la pointe de Chagouamigon et 
leur ont tue quelques hommes, mais il compte l'affaire acco- 

*Ce traite avoit este fait en 1726, il y en a une copie cy jointe. 



382 APPENDIX 

modee, et il veillera a ce que ces sauvages vivent en paix a 
l'avenir, les differens entre ces nations prejudicieroient beau- 
coup a toutes nos enterprises, pour la reussite desquelles il est 
besoin de la tranquillite quil tacher d'afermer dans les pays 
d'en haut. 

Mr. De Maurepas, Ministre de la Marine, fonctionnaires 
divers de la Colonic — Canada, Corresp07idance Gkn£rale t 
i 73 r, Vol. L VI, p. 336. 

TRANSLA TION: 

The 6th of August, 1730, M. de Villiers, commandant at the 
St. Joseph river, learned from two Maskoutins who had been 
sent to him by their nation that the Foxes, who had started on 
the march to go to the Iroquois, had been pursued by the Pot- 
tawattamies, Mascoutins, Kickapoos and Illinois, and that after 
having endured two different attacks on the part of these 
nations, they had gained a thicket [of woods] where they had 
fortified themselves with their families. 

He immediately gave advice of this news to M. de Noyelles, 
commandant at the Miamis. He sent at the same time two 
savages to the commandant of Detroit, to notify him of it, 
and the 10th of the same month he himself departed at the 
head of 300 French or allied savages to go to the place where 
the Foxes were. He found there M. de St. Ange, who had 
arrived from Louisiana with 100 French and 400 savages. 

M. de Noyelles also came there with the nations of his post, 
so that the troop was composed of about 1400 men. 

The Foxes had constructed their fort in a thicket situated on 
the bank of a river in a vast prairie. M. St. Ange had camped 
at the left of that river and had had redoubts constructed in 
order to cut off the water from the besieged, but these redoubts 
became worthless, the Foxes having found the means of con- 
triving subterranean ways which communicated with the river. 

M. de Villiers camped at the right of their fort in order to 
assail it. He also had two of them constructed with a cavalier 
(a kind of fort to protect advanced positions), and, in order to 
approach the closest possible to try to set fire to it, he had a 
trench opened. The besieged at first opened a great fire upon 
him, but they soon sought to parley ; the savage nations, who 
only wished to make slaves, proposed to him to harken to them, 



APPENDIX 3S3 

but he constantly refused, so that they directed their attempts 
in the direction of M. St. Ange, who made them the same 
refusal. 

The besieged found themselves thereby reduced to eating 
their skin coverings. In spite of this desperate condition, they 
held out for twenty-three days; but on the 8th of September 
there was such a terrible storm and the night was so dark that 
it was not possible for M. de Villiers to induce the savages to 
guard the passages. 

The besieged profited by this advantage to leave their fort; 
but the cries of their children and a woman who was going to 
the trench having made known their flight, they were pursued 
and overtaken at the break of day. They were attacked with 
vigor and put to flight ; 200 warriors were killed or burned ; 
600 women and children met the same fate, and this defeat, 
joined to the other losses which that nation had suffered in the 
different attacks which it had endured previously from the part 
of the allied savages, reduced it to thirty cabins, with a few 
old women without children wandering about without provi- 
sions or ammunition. The Illinois attacked them* once more, 
and finding no refuge anywhere they decided to send two new 
chiefs to M. le Marquis de Beauharnois in order to ask their 
lives of him. 

In the expressions which these two chiefs brought to him 
from the rest of the nations, they represented themselves as 
victims worthy of death, and they only asked grace in order to 
repair by their submission the crimes which their obstinacy 
had caused them to commit. They protested to him that if in 
the future any guilty person was found among them, they 
would deliver him up themselves_to be punished ; and for an 
assurance of their protestations, they asked him for some one 
to govern them. M. le Marquis de Beauharnois answered them 
with firmness. He showed them the infamy of their conduct. 
He reproached them for their treachery and the attempts 
which they had made among the Sonontouans at the time 
when they were asking him for peace. He told them that he 
wished other assurances of their fidelity than their protesta- 

* According to a letter from M. de Boishebert, commandant at Detroit, 
of July 15, 1731, the Illinois killed on that occasion three women and made 
prisoners of five men and nine women and children. 



384 APPENDIX 

tions and their words; and he required that one of them should 
remain with him and the other should go fetch four of the 
principal warriors of the nation to come and beg his pardon 
the next year at Montreal; without which all the miserable 
remainder should be exterminated without mercy. This con- 
dition having been accepted, one of the chiefs departed to go 
and inform his nation of the answer of M. le Marquis de Beau- 
harnois. The other remained with him, and the four warriors 
were expected the following spring. The savages, however, 
appear to desire to destroy the race, and M. le Marquis de 
Beauharnois will keep them in that disposition if that nation 
fails in what it has promised him. 

This defeat has spread joy among the nations, and last sum- 
mer there came to Montreal savages from all parts to express 
their satisfaction to M. le Marquis de Beauharnois, and to 
renew to him the assurance of their fidelity. He has been all 
the more aware of it himself, as by the resignation of all the 
savages he perceives the impression which that war has made 
upon their minds; and as by that means he finds himself in a 
position to work to reestablish in the upper country the peace 
which had been interrupted for so long a time, and to continue 
our establishment there. It is with that in view that he has 
sent away this year among the Sioux to reestablish the post 
there which had had to be abandoned on account of the prox- 
imity of the Foxes, and he renewed to that end the treaty 
which had been made at the time of the first establishment of 
that post.* 

It seemed none the less important to think of the post at The 
Bay which the proximity of the Foxes had also caused to be 
abandoned. He sent there M. de Villiers, upon his return from 
his expedition, to reestablish it as it was before it was evacu- 
ated, in case he found the Saks in the disposition to also estab- 
lish their village there. 

He believed that he ought first to provide for the reestablish- 
ment of these two posts, the more so as the hindrance which 
the Foxes had occasioned to the one among the Sioux no longer 
existing they would be enabled to derive all the advantages 
which they expected. On the other hand, the enterprise of M. 

*'f his treaty had been made in 1726. 



APPENDIX 385 

de la Veranderie demanded it, because it is absolutely neces- 
sary that that nation should be on our side in order to enable 
us to be in communication with the Assiniboils and the 
Cristenaux, through whose territories it will be necessary to 
pass to discover the Ocean of the West. The Cristenaux had 
an affair with the Sauteurs* of the point of Chagoumigon, 
and killed a few men, but he counts the affair as settled, 
and he will see that the savages live in peace in the 
future. The differences among these nations hindered all our 
enterprises exceedingly, for the success of which there is need 
of tranquillity, which he will undertake to make more secure in 
the upper country. 

M. de Maurepas, Minister of the Marine, divers functionaries 
of the Colony. 

[There is one letter written by Perier to Maurepas in which 
he refers to the fact that his son had been sent to France to 
give a personal description of the defeat of the Foxes. It was 
a most important defeat, for the Foxes were forever opposing 
the progress of the French. ] 

•The Sauteurs inhabited the region around the Sault Ste. Marie, hence 
the name. 



INDEX 



Andrews' map, 46. 
Allouez among the Foxes, 91, 
97, 107, 118. 
describes the Illinois, 109. 

Black Hawk's cave, 38, 39. 
Big Rock Creek described, 35. 
Buffalo Rock. 49, 247. 
Burning of criminal in Illinois, 

12. 
a suspect in Kansas, 16. 
Burials, 50. 

Bullhead, the story of, 57. 
Burning of prisoners, Illinois 

custom of, 242. 
Burning of prisoners, origin of 

custom of, 90. 
Butte de Mort, 196, 229. 

Canons of the Colorado, in the, 

10. 
Charlevoix among the western 
tribes, 241. 
describes the Pestekouy, 243. 
Crespel's, Father, account of De 

Lignerie's expedition, 261. 
Chicagou portage, 45. 
Chicago, trails to, 68. 
Kinzie takes, 341. 
a Miami village, 68, 116, 162, 

178, 193. 
French post near, 161. 
why so named, 193, 355. 



Crimes of to-day, 15. 
Chiefs of Maramech, 73. 
Coronelli's map, 32. 
Commerce, 130. 

Conspiracy against the French, 
305- 

Dance of the calumet, no. 
De Lisle's map, 41. 
De Lignerie's expedition, 261. 
De Villiers attacks Sac fort, 303. 
Detroit, siege of, 200, 226. 

English intrigues with the 
Foxes, 145. 

Franquelin's map of 1684, 23. 

of 1688, 28. 
Foxes rob the French, 196. 
French map, early, 30. 

old, 44. 
Foxes, defeat of, in 1730, 279, 
288. 
village of the, the deserted, 

312. 
Sioux tribes unite against, 

239. 
first heard of, 80. 
Fox tribe, first accounts of, 79. 
Fort St. Louis, 25, 68, 248 (see 

maps 23 to 31). 
French, prejudice against the, 
"3. 



337 



3 S8 



INDEX 



French, menaced by Foxes and 

others, 163. 
Foxes and Sacs against the 

Ojibwas, 88. 
Foxes against the Sauteurs, 

155- 
Foxes, branch of, located near 
Chicago, 232. 

afraid of treachery, 266. 

attack the Illinois, 267. 

warred against by the French, 
269, 272. 

attacked by Iroquois, 302. 

attacked by Ojibwas, 311. 

attacked by Marin, 273. 

part remove west of the Mis- 
sissippi, 313. 

mentioned by Drake, 314. 

mentioned by Lieut. Pike, 

314- 

mentioned by Clark, 315. 
various opinions of, 316. 
and Sacs in the War of 1S12, 
316. 
Fox chief's son goes to Mon- 
treal, 190. 
Foxes, French expedition 
against, 237. 
poverty of, 172. 
De Lignerie's expedition 

against, 257. 
and Sacs attack the Mascou- 

tins, 321. 
and Sacs attack the Peorias, 
321. 
Fox reservation at Tama, 

Iowa, 343. 
Foxes, defeat of the, traditions 
of, 345- 



Foxes with Black Hawk, 352. 

Gibson's map, 33. 
Guignas, Father, captured, 235. 
opinion of the Foxes, 269. 

Happy hunting-ground, 51. 
Hennepin's map, 40. 
Hennepin at the Falls of St. 

Anthony, 143. 
Hunters, the story of the, 62. 

Indians, their better natures 
and schooling, 9, 11, 13, 16, 
18, 143- 

Indian lands purchased, 329. 

Illinois, various tribes against, 

233- 
Illinois attacked by Iroquois, 

134- 
attack the Iroquois, 136. 
Illinois, confederated tribes, 

120. 
Iroquois, defeated by the 
Foxes, 137. 
western limit of claims, 152. 

Joliet's map, 25. 

Kalamazoo river not the vil- 
lage of Maramech, 70-75. 

Kilatikas, 49, 120. 

Kishwaukee trail, 42. 

Kinzie's trip over the trails, 
333. 

La Salle's expeditions, 24. 
colony, map of, 23, 71. 
robbed by the Foxes, 130. 



INDEX 



389 



Lanman's map referred to, 26. 
Lead mines worked by the 

Foxes, 325, 327. 
Lenox Library map, 50. 
Little Rock Creek described, 35. 
Long-haired, the hermit, story 

of, 55- 



Maps: 

Franquelin's, 1684, 23. 

1688, 38. 
Shafer's, 47. 
Andrews', 46. 
Hennepin's, 40. 
De Lisle's, 41. 
Tillman's, 31. 
Site of Maramech, 21. 
Thevenot's, 27. 
Lenox Library, 50. 
Popple's, 29. 
Old French, 30. 
Joliet's, 25. 
Coronelli's, 32. 
Gibson's, 33. 
Old French map, 44. 
Maramech hill, Popple's map 

showing, 29. 
Maramech (Maramea-Maraux) 

first learned of, 116. 
Maramech, discovery of site of, 
22. 
site of, shown on map, 23, 28, 

29. 30, 31. 
site of, described, 32, 36, 75. 
Perrot recruits at, 164. 
Feast at, 167, 177. 
Miamis urged to abandon, 1 72. 
where located, 70, 181. 



Maramech, Miamis requested 

to settle at, 188. 

site of, Kinzie at, 336, 338. 

site of, the last red resident 

at, 336. 
Mascoutin chief meets Perrot 

at, 189. 
Marquette at the Illinois town, 

119. 
Shea's unwarranted claims 

for, 26. 
Medicines, presents as, 173. 
Miamis on the St. Joseph river, 

119. 
Miamis, branches of the, 120. 
Mississippi river, discovery of, 

127. 
Allouez learns of , 116. 
Maramech, Miamis of, ordered 

by chief to build fort, 189. 
Mortuary customs, 50. 
Morand's expedition, 197. 

Negro slavery at Kaskaskia, 276. 
Nicolet, 95. 
at the Mississippi river, 44. 

Old French map, 30. 
Ouchegamie-Outagamie, 82. 

Paris documents, 360. 
Pepikokias, 49, 120. 
Pestekouy (Fox river), 25, 39. 
Perrot commissioned, 70, 73, 

146. 
Perrot, among the Sauteurs, 147. 

at the Fox village, 156. 

proposed speech of, 157. 

a prisoner, 165. 

rescued, 16b. 



39Q 



INDEX 



Perrot, at Maramech, 164, 167, 
169, 175. 
arrives at Montreal with 

western tribes, 179, 194. 
at the Sioux, 184. 
Mascoutins attempt to am- 
bush, 1 83. 
at the lead mines, 325. 
Pistakee lake, 25, 244. 
Pinart's reproduction of old 

French map, 44. 
Popple's map, 29. 

Racine portage, 42. 
Red Banks, 82. 

Starved Rock, 68, 245, 246, 247, 
248, 252, 253, 255, 256. 

Sacs, people of the yellow earth, 
87. 

Shafer's map, 47. 

Saint Marks, mission of, 103, 
107, 120, i2i, 129. 

Saint Ange, march of, 276. 

Shaubena, 352, 353. 

Sauk and Fox trail, 39, 67, 68. 



Sioux attacked by Mascoutins 

and Foxes, 182. 
Siege, the, 288. 

Taking possession of the west, 

117. 
Tama, Iowa, Fox reservation, 

343- 
Traffic of the trails, 331. 
Treaty of Prairie du Chien, 320. 

Foxes at, 321. 
The trails, Kinzie's trip over, 

333- 
The Rock of Fox river, 38, 

39- 
Thevenot's map, 27, 128. 
Tonty, 68. 
Tonty at Fort St. Louis, ordered 

by Iroquois to leave, 256. 
Torture of captives, 88, 89. 
Tillman's map, 31. 

Wa-sa-ri, the story of, 57. 
Wa-sa-ka, the story of, 59. 
Waubansie, 352. 
Witches, burning of, n. 



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